IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


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V 


1.0 


1.1 


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1.25 


mm  125 


1.4   11.6 


Fhotographic 

Sdmoes 

CarparaUon 


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39  WKT  MAIN  STIHT 

WIKTtt.N.Y.  14SM 

(7l6)t79-4S09 


CIHM/ICMH 


Series. 


CIHM/ICMH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


CwMdtan  Imtitut*  for  Historical  Microroproduction*  /  Inttitut  conadion  do  microroproductiont  historiquoa 


<v 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notaa/Notaa  tachniquaa  at  bibliographiquaa 


Tha 
toti 


Tha  Institute  has  attempted  to  obtain  tha  beat 
original  copy  available  for  filming.  Faaturaa  of  thia 
copy  which  may  be  bibliographieally  unique, 
which  may  aKar  any  of  the  imegea  in  the 
reproduction,  or  which  may  aignificantiy  change 
the  uauai  method  of  filming,  are  checked  below. 


D 


D 

D 


D 


Coloured  covers/ 
Couverture  de  couleur 


0    Covers  da'  lagad/ 
Couverture  endom 


endommagia 

Bred  and/or  lai 
Couverture  restaur^  et/ou  pellicuMe 


|~n   Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 


□   Cover  title  missing/ 
Le  titre  de  couverture  manque 

0   Coloured  maps/ 
Cartes  apograph 


gAographiques  en  couleur 

Bd  inic  (i.e.  other  than  blue 
Encre  de  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noire) 


I     I   Coloured  inic  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  black)/ 


I     I   Coloured  plates  and/or  illustrations/ 


D 


Planches  et/ou  illustrations  en  couleur 


Bound  with  other  material/ 
ReliA  avac  d'autras  documenta 


Tight  binding  may  cause  shadows  or  distortion 
along  interior  margin/ 

La  re  liure  serrie  peut  causer  de  I'ombre  ou  de  la 
distortion  (a  long  de  la  margii  irstMeure 

Blank  leaves  added  during  restoration  may 
appear  within  the  text.  Whenever  possible,  these 
have  been  omitted  from  filming/ 
II  se  peut  que  certainaa  pagea  blanchea  ajouttoa 
lore  d'une  reatauration  apparaisaant  dana  le  taxte, 
mais.  lorsque  cela  Atait  possible,  ces  pages  n'ont 
pas  4t«  f  ilm«es. 

Additional  comments:/ 
Commentairas  supplAmentaires: 


L'Institut  a  miorofiim*  la  mailkiur  exemplaire 
qu'il  lui  a  At*  poaaible  de  se  procurer.  Les  d*tails 
de  cet  exemplaire  qui  sont  peut-*tre  uniques  du 
point  de  vue  bibliographique,  qui  peuvent  modifier 
une  image  raproduite,  ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une 
raodifieatlon  dana  la  mAthoda  normale  de  f iimaga 
<)M>nt  indiquia  ci'dassoua. 


D 
D 
D 
0 
D 
Q 
D 
D 
D 


Coloured  pages/ 
Pagea  de  couleur 

Pages  damaged/ 
Pagea  endommag4ea 

Pagea  reatorad  and/or  laminated/ 
Pages  reataurAas  et/ou  pelliculAea 

Pagea  diacolourad,  stained  or  foxed/ 
Pages  dAcolorAes,  tachaties  ou  piquAas 

Pages  detached/ 
Pages  ditachies 

Showthrough/ 
Tranaparance 

Quality  of  print  variaa/ 
Qualiti  in^gaia  da  I'impression 

Includes  supplementary  material/ 
Comprend  du  matAriai  suppMmentaire 

Only  edition  avaiiabki/ 
Saule  Mition  disponible 

Pagea  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata 
alipa,  tissues,  etc.,  have  bean  ref limed  to 
enaure  tlie  beat  poaaible  image/ 
Lea  pagea  totalamant  ou  partiallement 
obaeurciaa  fMir  un  fauillet  d'errata,  une  pelure, 
etc.,  ont  iti  filmAea  k  nouveau  de  fa^ion  i 
obtenir  la  melHeure  image  possible. 


The 
posi 
ofti 
film! 


Origi 
begii 
the  I 
sion, 
othe 
first 
sion, 
or  ill 


The  I 
shall 
TINL 
whic 

Mapi 
diffa 
entir 
begli 
right 
requi 
metli 


Thia  item  is  filmed  at  tUe  reduction  ratio  cK'»':kad  below/ 

Ce  document  est  film*  au  taux  de  rMuction  ^ndiqu*  ci-deaaoua. 

10X  14X  laX  22X 


MX 


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n 

31X 


12X 


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itdu 
nodiftor 

ir  un« 
llmag* 


TiM  copy  fUiiMd  hcra  Imm  Imm  raproduocd  thanka 
to  tha  ganaroalty  of: 


Miljt  MMiMrW  Llbvify 
MnMMiirr'  • 


Unlvanity 


Tha  ImaoM  appaaring  hara  ara  tha  baat  quality 
poaalbia  conaMaring  tha  condition  and  laglblllty 
of  tha  original  copy  and  In  kaaping  with  tha 
filming  contract  apacif icationa.  > 


L'axamplaira  fllm4  f ut  raprodult  grica  A  la 
g4n«roaltA  da: 


MilhMwMftai  Litniry 
MflMMtsr  r 


UniMnity 


l.aa  imagaa  aulvantaa  ont  4tA  raproduitaa  avac  la 
plua  grand  coin,  compta  tanu  da  la  condition  at 
da  la  nattati  da  l'axamplaira  film*,  at  an 
conformM  avac  lat  condltiona  du  contrat  da 
fllmaga. 


Original  copiaa  In  printad  fMpar  covara  ara  fllmad 
baginnlng  with  tha  front  eovar  and  anding  on 
tlM  last  page  with  a  printad  or  llluatratad  impras- 
•Ion,  or  tha  back  cover  whan  appropriata.  All 
othar  original  copiaa  ara  fllmad  beginning  on  tha 
first  paga  wKh  a  printad  or  llluatratad  Impraa- 
slon,  and  anding  on  tlta  laat  paga  wMi  a  printad 
or  llluatratad  Impraaslon. 


IS 


Las  axampiairas  originaux  dont  la  couvartura  an 
papiar  ast  ImprimAa  aont  filmte  an  commanpant 
par  la  pramlar  plat  at  an  tarmlnant  soit  par  la 
darnlAra  paga  qui  comporta  una  amprainta 
d'imprassion  ou  d'lllustration,  soit  par  la  sacond 
phit.  aaton  la  cas.  Tous  las  autras  axampiairas 
originaux  aont  filmia  an  commanpant  par  la 
pramlAra  paga  qui  comporta  una  amprainta 
d'Impraaaion  ou  d'lllustration  at  an  tarmlnant  par 
la  darnlAra  paga  qui  comporta  una  talla 
amprainta. 


Tha  last  racordad  frama  on  aach  microflcha 
slwll  contain  tlia  symbol  <— ^  (moaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  tha  aymbol  ▼  (moaning  "END"), 
whicltavar  appliaa. 


Un  das  symbolas  sulvants  apparaltra  sur  la 
darnMra  imaga  da  chaqua  microfiche,  salon  la 
cas:  Ir  symbols  -«^  signifla  "A  SUIVRE",  la 
symbols  V  signifla  "FIN". 


Maps,  platas.  cluirts,  ate,  may  ba  fllmad  at 
different  reduction  ratloa.  Thoae  too  large  to  be 
entirely  Included  in  one  expoeure  are  filmed 
beginnkig  In  the  upper  hift  hand  comer,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  framae  as 
required.  Tlie  following  diagrama  llluatrate  the 
method: 


Lea  cartas,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  Atre 
fiimte  i  dee  taux  da  rMuetion  diffArants. 
Lorsque  le  document  eat  trap  grand  pour  Atra 
raprodult  en  un  seul  clichA,  il  est  film*  A  partir 
da  Tangle  supArieur  gauche,  do  gauche  A  droite. 
et  do  hiaut  en  bas,  en  prenant  la  nombre 
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HOLY  LAND    AND  THE   BIBLE. 

A  BOOK  OF  SCRIPTURE  ILLUSTRATIONS  GATHERED 

IN  PALESTINE. 


BY 


CUNNINGHAM    GEIKIE,    D.D., 

Vicar  of  St.  ^fartin's  at  Palnce,  NoruHch. 


^'\'.«' 


WITH  A  MAP  OF  PALESTINE,  AND  213  ILLUSTRATIONS  REPRODUCED  FROM 
THE  CELEBRATED  GERMAN  WORK  OF  DR.  OEORO  EBERS. 


,.w- 


m  TWO  VOLUMES. 
VOL.  L 


^ 


NEW    YORK: 

JOHN    B.    ALDEN,    PUBLISHER. 

1888. 


fl 

H*jl 

By 

/ 

n 

PREFACE. 

I  MUST  urge  it  in  explanation  of  my  adding  to  the  already 
copious  literature  treating,  from  one  aspect  or  another,  of  the 
Holy  Land,  that  the  aim  I  have  had  in  view  in  writing  this 
book  has  been  different  from  that  of  nearly  every  other  work 
on  Palestine,  and  that,  if  I  have  been  able  to  carry  it  out  suc- 
cessfully, the  result  should  unquestionably  prove  veiy  useful. 

I  visited  Palestine  with  the  intention  of  gathering  illustra- 
tions of  the  sacred  writings  from  its  hills  and  valleys,  its  rivers 
and  lakes,  its  plains  and  uplands,  its  plants  and  animals,  its 
skies,  its  soil,  and,  above  all,  from  the  pictures  of  ancient 
times  still  presented  on  every  side  in  the  daily  life  of  its  people. 
Nothing  is  more  instructive  or  can  be  more  charming,  when 
reading  Scripture,  than  the  illumination  of  its  texts  from  such 
sources,  throwing  light  upon  its  constantly  recurring  Oriental 
iiliagery  and  local  allusions,  and  revealing  the  exact  meaning 
of  words  and  phrases  which  otherwise  could  not  be  adequately 
understood.  Its  simple  narratives,  its  divine  poetry,  its  pi'o- 
phetic  visions,  its  varied  teachings,  alike  catch  additional  vivid- 
ness and  force  when  read  with  the  aid  of  such  knowledge. 
The  Land  is,  in  fact,  a  natural  commentary  on  the  sacred  writ- 
ings which  it  has  given  to  us,  and  we  study  them  as  jt  were 
amidst  the  life,  the  scenery,  and  the  local  peculiarities  which 
surrounded  those  to  whom  the  Scriptures  were  first  addressed. 

While  describing  the  various  districts  of  the  Holy  Land  and 
while  noting  their  ancient  sites,  their  past  history,  and  tliew* 


IV  PREFACK. 

IM'esent  state,  I  have  MHiglit  to  gather  at  every  step  contiibu- 
tions  towards  the  illustration  of  the  insnired  text  from  every 
local  source.  A  glance  at  the  Table  of  Contents  will  show 
tiiat  all  the  country  is  brought  before  the  reader  in  successive 
portions,  from  the  extreme  south  to  its  northern  limits:  that  is 
from  Beereheba  to  Damascus,  Baalbek,  and  Beirout — an  area 
including  the  whole  Palestine  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments. 
The  numerous  Scripture  passages  quoted  have  been  taken,  as 
seemed  most  advantageous  for  the  reader,  from  the  Authorized 
or  the  Revised  Versions^  or  from  the  Greek  or  Hebrew  texts ; 
and  variations  from  the  ordinary  I'enderings  have  V)een  made 
where,  in  order  to  express  the  full  meaning  of  the  original,  such 
a  course  seened  necessary.  C.  G. 


AMERICAN  PUBLISHER'S  NOTICE. 

The  English  edition  of  this  work  is  not  illustrated.  To 
the  present  edition  about  200  illustrations  have  been  added, 
taken,  principally,  fi*om  the  celebrated  German  work  on  Pales- 
tine by  Dr.  Georg  Ebers. 


-♦t 


1 


CONTENTS    VOLUMi:    I. 


H» 


1 


I.  Joppa  and  its  Neighhorliood,             -            -            -  7 

II.  Lyddah— Ramleli,           -            ...            .            -  22 

III.  The  Plain  of  Sharon, W 

IV.  X'ajsarea— Athlit,  ......  42 

V.  Tlio  Pliilistino  Plain  and  Samson's  Country,  -          -  56 

VI.  Localities  Famous  in  David's  Life,          -            •            -  70 

VII.  Ashdod— Mejdel, 83 

VIII.  Gaza,        --.-...  100 

IX.  Ascalon,         -            .            -            .            -            .  120 

X.  On  the  way  to  Gerar,      -            -            -            -            -  133 

XL  Gerar, 141) 

XII.  IJeersljeba,            -            -            -            -            -            -  159 

XIII.  Gaza  to  Falujeh,        -            -            -            -            -  168 

XIV.  Falujeh  to  Beit  Jibrin.— The  Road  Thence  to  Hebron,  -  183 
XV.  Hebron, 197 

XVI.  The  Country  South  of  Hebron,  - "          -            -            -  216 

XVII.  The  Country  North  of  Hebron,        -            -            -  230 

XVIII.  Urtas,      -            - 241 

XIX.  Bethlehem, -  252 

XX.  Bethlehem  to  Jerusalem,             -            -            •            -  271 

XXI.  Jerusalem, 284 

XXII.  Jerusalem  {continued)^    ....            -  302 

XXIII.  Jerusalem  {continued)^          -           -            -           -  318 

XXIV,  Round  Jerusalem,          -           -           ,.           -           .  335 


i 
4. 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRAT10N& 


u 


1  Tlio  Citadel  of  Jornsalein,  •  -  -  Frontispiece. 

2  View  of  tiie  Harbor  of  Joppa,                 •           -            -           •  8 

3  Water  wheel  ill  a  Garden  near  Joppa,            -            •           •  12 

4  A  Jkzar  in  Joppa,            ...-.-  10 

5  Tiio  Honso  of  8inion  the  Tanner,     ...            -  20 

6  At  the  Moscjuo  in  Jappa,  -  •  -  -  -24 

7  Fountain  Abu  Nabat  near  Joppa,      •            -            •           •      *  28 

8  Church  of  St.  George  in  Lvdda,               -            -            -            -  32 

9  View  from  a  Window  of  the  Tower  of  Ramleh  towards  the  East  <?-(5 

10  Ruins  of  Aniwas  and  Latrniu,           ....  40 

11  Ancient  Rock  Tombs  at  Tibneli,              -            -            -            -  44 

12  The  Sacred  Tree  (Scliesh  et  Teim)  near  Tibneh        -            -  48 

13  Reservoir  and  Aqueduct  near  Ras-el-Ain,           -            -            -  50 

14  Ruins  of  a  P^ortresH  at  Ras-el-Ain,     ....  64 

15  Kefr  Saba  from  ti>e  East,            -            -            -      .      -            -  5rt 

16  Nebi  Jamin,  Moslem  Tomb  near  Kefr  Saba,            -            -  -     58 

17  Fragment  of  the  City  Wall  of  Ctesarea  from  the  Middle  Ages,  00 

18  On  tiie  Beach  at  Ctesarea,            .....  62 

19  The   Mediterranean   seen   through   the    Ruins  of  a  pointed 

Gothic  Arch  at  Athlit,        -            .            -            -            .  64 

20  Ruins  of  Athlit  (West  Side),             -            -            -            -  -    66 

21  Bedouin  from  Hauran,                .....  68 

22  Yabneli,  the  ancient  Jabneel,            -           -           -           -  -    70 

23  Wady-es-Surar,                ......  72 

24  Surah,  Ancient  Zorah,  Birth-place  of  Samson,          -           •  -    74 

25  Tibneh,  Ancient  Timnath,  Home  of  Samson's  Bride,     -            -  76 

26  Wady-es-Sunt,  the   Ancient  Valley  of  Elah,  the    Scene    of 

David's  Encounter  with  Goliath,          -            -            -  -    78 

27  Valley  and  Ruins  of  Charetun,  seen  from  the  Cave  oi  Adullam,  80 

28  Gallery  witii  Guest  Chamber  in  the  Monastery  of  St.  Catherine,  -    82 

29  Fellah  Ploughing  in  the  Neighborhood  of  Tell-es-Safieh,            -  84 

30  Alluvial  Deposits  in  Wady  Firan,     -            -            -            -  -    86 

31  Esdnd,  Ancient  Ashdod,  "           -            -            -            .            .  88 

32  El-Medjel  on  the  Road  from  Ashkelon  to  Jerusalem,           -  -    92 

33  Threshi'ng-Sledge  on  a  Threshing  Floor  in  the  Nile  Delta,         •  96 

34  A  Threshing  Floor,                ......  loo 

35  Kassa,  Ancient  Gaza,        -            -            -            -            -            -  104 

36  Potters  in  Raschejet  el  Fochar,          -            -            -            -  110 

37  Ruins  of  Ascalon  from  the  North,           -            •            -            -  '     116 

38  Bnttermaking  in  Syria,          -            -            -           -           -  126 
99  Site  of  the  Ancient  Beersheba,    •           •           •           •           -  189 


'v  LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

40  Bedouins  of  Towara,  .  .  .  .  - 

41  Ruins  of  St.  John's  Church  near  Beit  Jibrin, 

42  Interior  of  a  Great  Cavern  Beit  Jibrin, 

43  View  from  Beit  Jibrin  toward  the  Mediterranean, 

44  View  of  Hebron  from  "  Abraham's  Oak,"     - 

45  Pools  of  Hebron,  -  -  -        '    - 

46  Ruins  of  a  Weli,  South  of  Hebron, 

47  After  the  Meal,  ...... 

48  Solomon's  Pools,         .--... 

49  Herodium  or  Frank  Mountains  seen  from  Bethlehem,    - 

50  The  Dead  Sea  seen  from  the  Frank  Mountains, 

51  Wilderness  of  Judca  near  Engedi,  -  -,  -  . 

52  Pethlehem  seen  from  the  Southwest, 

53  Mother-of-Pearl  Workers  in  Betlilehem, 

54  Chapel  of  the  Nativity  under  the  Church  of  Mary,  at  Bethlehem, 

55  David's  Well  at  Bethlehem,         -  -  ... 

56  Pasture  near  Bethlehem ;  Mountains  of  Moab, 

57  Pasture  near  Bethlehem,  ..... 

58  Tomb  of  Rachel,         ... 

59  A  Jewish  Cotton  Cleaner,  -  • 

60  Tower  of  David,  Jerusalem,  -  -  -  '         - 

61  Hezekiah's  Pool,  ...... 

62  Entrance  to  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulclier, 

63  Chapel  of  the  Holy  Sepulclier,  .... 

64  Street  Cafe  in  Jerusalem,       -  -  - 

65  Stairway  leading  to  Church  of  St.  John,  Patriarch  of  Alexandria, 

66  Grocer's  Stall  in  Jerusalem,         -  .  .  -  . 

67  Shoemaker's  Shop  in  Jerusalem,         .... 

68  Pool  of  Bethesda,  ...... 

69  South  Wall  of  the  Harem  Esh-Sherif, 

70  ^Northwest  Corner  of  the  Harem  Esh-Sherif, 

71  Interior  of  the  Mosque  of  Omar,        .... 

72  Cave  under  the  Great  Rock  on  Mount  Moriah,  - 

73  Old  Cypress  Trees  in  the  Garden  of  Harem  Es-Sherif, 

74  The  Wailing  Place  of  the  Jews,  .... 

75  Tomb  of  David, 

76  The  Joppa  Gate  at  Jerusalem,    -  .  .  -  . 

77  Valley  of  Hinnom  from  the  Northwest  Corner  of  the  C;!ity, 

78  Lower  Part  of  the  Valley  of  Hinnom, 

79  Valley  of  Hinnom,  -  - 

80  Aceldama,  ....... 

81  Upper  Pool  of  Siloam,  ..... 

82  Job's  Well, 

83  Olive  Grove  below  Job's  Well,  .... 

84  Ruins  of  Siloam  seen  from  Jacob's  Tomb, 


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I 


THE 


HOLY  LAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


CHAPTER  I. 


JOPPA  AND  ITS  NEIGHBORHOOD. 


A  BREADTH  of  apparently  level  foreground,  backed  by  a  range  o! 

fmrple  hills,  so  nearly  of  equal  height  that  the}'^  seem  to  form  a  table- 
and,  is  the  first  aspect  of  Palestine  as  the  voyager  coasts  along  it  from 
Egypt  in  one  of  the  numerous  steamers  which  now  touch  at  the  differ- 
ent ports.  Our  destination  is  Joppa — "  the  Beautiful,"  or,  perhaps, 
"  the  High  " — one  of  the  oldest  cities  in  the  world,^  and  the  first  pos- 
sible landing-place  as  we  sail  northwards.  There  it  is,  at  last,  rising 
before  us  on  its  sloping  hill,  a  hundred  and  fifty-three  feet  high ;  the 
flat-roofed  houses  looking  down,  terrace  after  terrace,  on  the  waters, 
flalf  a  mile  out,  steam  is  let  off  and  the  anchors  slipped,  for  it  is  unsafe 
for  large  vessels  to  go  any  nearer  the  town.  A  strong  west  wind 
might  drive  them  on  the  rocks,  as  there  is  no  breakwater  or  harbor 
to  offer  shelter,  and  sudden  steaming  to  sea  must  alwavs  be  easy. 

There  is  no  difficulty,  however,  in  getting  ashore,  if  one  have  faith 
in  the  oarsmen  who  swarm  round  as  soon  as  a  vessel  anchors.  Compe- 
tition reigns  at  Joppa  as  elsewhere.  Many  more  boats  than  can  find 
passengers  crowd  towards  the  steps  let  down  to  the  water  from  the 
deck.  A  Babel  of  cries,  unintelligible  to  Western  ears,  fills  the  air. 
The  motley  throng  of  deck  passengers  of  the  most  varied  nationalities, 
who  have  till  now  littered  three-fourths  of  the  deck  with  their  bedding 
and  baggage,  fare  best  in  the  noisy  exodus,  for  they  are  virtually  at 
home,  knowing  the  language  of  the  boatmen,  and  able  at  once  to  strike 
a  bargain  with  them,  without  a  contest  about  prices.  For  the  last 
half-hour  they  have  been  busy  packing.  Veiled  women  who  sat  apart 
with  their  children,  in  a  spot  railed  off  for  them,  are  now  on  the  wing 
with  the  rest.  Figures  in  every  variety  of  Eastern  costume;  Arabs 
with  shawls  over  their  heads,  and  striped  brown-and-white  "  abbas," 
or  mantles;   black  Nubians  with  red  fezzes  blue  cotton  jackets  and 


1  Jaffa  Is  Jaapu  In  Assyrian. 


m 


8 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  THE  BIBLL. 


tCaAt>. 


trousers;  brown  Levantines  in  European  dress;  Syrians  or  Egyptians, 
in  turbans  and  flowing  robes  of  all  shades,  press  towards  the  stairs, 
many  of  them  throwing  their  softer  packages  over  the  ship's  side  into 
the  boat  they  have  chosen,  to  facilitate  their  departure.  Bare  legs  and 
feet  are  mingled  with  French  boots  and  red  or  yellow  slippers ;  smooth 
faces,  with  formidable  black  beards,  or  venerable  white  ones.  But  the 
storm  is  too  violent  to  last.  Each  minute  sees  it  by  degrees  subside, 
as  boat  after  boat  shoots  off  under  the  oar-strokes  of  strong-armed 
rowers,  no  less  strange  in  their  dress  than  any  of  their  passengers. 

The  boats  for  Europeans  and  those  who  shrink  from  the  native 
crowd,  have  not  long  to  wait,  and  at  last  we  too  are  sweeping  towards 
the  town.  But  it  needs  skill  as  well  as  strength  to  make  the  voyage 
safely.  The  nearly  flat-bottomed  cobles  have  to  steer  througn  an 
opening  in  the  reefs  only  about  a  hundred  feet  wide,  and  the  swell 
which  rises  with  the  daily  forenoon  land  breeze  may  carr^  them  too 
much  to  one  side  or  the  other.  If  the  sea  be  rough  there  is  real  dan- 
ger, for  boats  are  occasionally  lost,  and  as  sharks  are  not  unknown, 
they  and  the  water  offer  two  ways  out  of  the  world.  The  rocks  stretch 
north  and  south  before  the  town,  in  a  semicircle,  some  of  them  rising 
high  out  of  the  water;  others  only  indicated  by  the  surf  breaking  over 
them;  the  perilous  entrance  being  known  only  to  the  local  boatmen. 
Once  through  it,  however,  danger  is  past,  and  we  find  ourselves  in  a 
broad  but  shallow  harbor.  There  is  a  wider  opening  to  the  north, 
seldom  used  on  account  of  it3  distance  from  the  port;  and  there  was 
once,  apparently,  a  third  place  of  possible  landing,  at  the  Moon-pool, 
to  the  south,  but  this  has  long  been  closed  by  silt  and  sand. 

Landing  is  itself  a  new  sensation  for  Europeans.  Some  twenty  or 
thirty  yards  from  the  shore  you  are  seized  and  carried  off  in  the  bare 
arms  or  on  the  back  of  a  boatman;  the  water  being  too  shallow  to 
permit  a  nearer  approach  to  the  old  tumble-down  quay,  juilt  of  stones 
from  the  ruins  of  Caesarea ;  the  base  or  capital  of  a  pillar  sticking  out 
here  and  there,  mixed  with  great  bevelled  blocks  of  conjectural  anti- 
quity. Strong  arms  lift  and  push  you  up  a  rough  step  or  two,  and  you 
are  fairly  ashore,  to  find  yourself  amidst  the  houses,  streets,  and  people 
of  a  new  world. 

There  has  always  been  the  same  difficulty  in  landing,  for  the  rocks 
have  been  as  formidable  from  the  beginning  of  time,  the  water  over 
them  as  treacherous,  and  the  inside  bay  as  shallow  offshore,  so  that 
you  have  fared  no  worse  than  bead-eyed  Greeks  or  hook-nosed  Eomans 
did  thousands  of  years  ago.  While  Palestine  was  held  by  the  Chris- 
tian nations,  Venice  organized  a  spring  ^nd  autumn  packet-service  to 
Joppa,  and  built  a  mole,  of  which  the  remains  were  still  visible  last 
century,  to  protect  the  shipping.  It  appears,  liowever,  to  have  been 
of  little  use,  and  since  then,  under  the  Arab  and  Turk,  everything  has 


t 


4 


4^ 


y 


VIEW  OF  THE  HARBOR  OF  JOFPA. 


i 


I 


i 


M 


JOPPA   AND  ITS  NEIGHBORHOOD. 


4 


I 


i 


rela[)8od  into  a  state  of  nature.  On  a  coast  so  exposed  t!ie  beach  must 
always  have  been  strewn  with  wrecks  after  great  storms,  before  steam 
enabled  vessels  to  bear  out  to  sea  and  e.soape.  About  thirty  years  ago 
the  remains  of  a  galley  of  great  antiquity  were  dug  up,  in  some  exca- 
vations on  the  shore ;  and  Josephus  tells  us  of  a  terrible  loss  of  life  in 
a  gale  oft*  the  port  in  the  reign  of  Vespasian.^  Phoenician,  Egyptian, 
Syrian,  Roman,  Crusading,  and  modern  fleets  have  all  alike  paid  their 
tribute  to  the  angry  waters. 

But  I  must  mount  my  donkey  and  get  to  the  hotel,  at  the  north  end 
of  the  town.  No  trouble  has  been  given  at  the  Custom  House;  in- 
deed, I  had  nothing  to  do  witii  it,  a  dragoman,  or  guide,  who  speaks 
English,  managing  all,  for  me  and  the  rest  of  tlie  European  passengers. 
The  road  leads  along  a  miserable  apology  for  a  street.  Once  paved, 
the  stones  liave  long  ago  risen  or  sunk  into  the  ideal  of  roughness.  No 
thought  of  drainage  crosses  the  mind  of  an  Oriental ;  the  space  before 
his  door  serving  for  a  sewer.  Dust-bins  are  equally  a  Western  inno- 
vation, of  which  the  East  has  not  heard,  so  that  every  kind  of  foulness 
and  abomination  bestrews  the  way,  or  rises  in  pestilent  heaps  at  its  side. 
The  buildings  are  of  stone,  with  little  or  no  wood  in  any  part,  timber 
being  so  scarce  in  Palestine  that  stone  is  used  instead.  The  arch  is, 
hence,  universal,  alike  in  places  of  business,  houses,  piazzas,  or  offices. 
As  you  jog  on,  you  see  that  no  light  enters  the  shops  except  from  the 
front — that  they  are,  in  fact,  like  miniatures  of  the  gloomy  holes  made 
out  of  railway-arches  among  us.  Still  on,  till  we  pass  under  an  arch 
over  which  is  built  the  chief  mosque  of  the  town,  with  a  six-sided 
minaret  on  the  right  side  of  it  surmounted  by  a  narrow  projecting  bal- 
cony for  the  mueziiu,  when  he  calls  the  faithful  to  prayers;  a  veran- 
dah-like roof  sheltering  him  on  all  sides,  with  a  short,  round,  dome- 
topped  tower,  of  smaller  diameter  than  the  rest  of  the  minaret,  rising 
as  its  crown  above.  Stalls  of  all  kinds  abound.  Tables  of  cakes  or 
sweetmeats  line  the  narrow  street,  which  is  more  or  less  shaded  by 
rude  awnings  of  mats— often  sorely  dilapidated — or  breadths  of  tent- 
cloth,  or  loose  boards,  resting  on  a  rickety  substructure  of  poles  stuck 
where  the  owner  pleases.  The  emptyings  of  carts  of  stone  would  make 
as  good  a  pavement,  and  the  same  rich  aroma  of  sewage  from  the 
houses  as  we  have  already  inhaled  follows  us  all  the  way.  A  turbaned 
water-carrier  with  a  huge  skin  bottle  on  his  back — a  defunct  calf,  in 
fact,  filled  with  water  instead  of  veal,  and  minus  head,  legs,  and.  tail — 
forces  us  to  turn  to  one  side,  to  pass  him.  A  bare-armed  and  bare- 
legged apparition  in  a  ragged  skull-cap,  cotton  jacket,  and  cotton 
knickerbockers  of  very  simple  pattern,  is  chaflfering  with  a  road-side 
huckster  for  some  delicacy  costing  a  farthing  or  two,  from  some  of  the 
mat  baskets  on  a  table ;  the  bearded  vendor,  bare-armed  and  with  bare 
1  Jos.  BOL  Jud.,  iil.  9, 3.  Even  Josepbus  describes  Joppa  as  not  naturally  a  harbor. 


10 


THE   HOLY   LAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


tour. 


legs,  sitting,  as  lio  tries  to  sell,  his  head  swollen  out  with  a  white-and- 
red  turban,  and  his  body  in  striped  pink-and-white  cotton.      Of  course 
there  is  a  lounger  at  his  side  looking  on.      An  Arab  in  his  "kefiyeh," 
or  head-shawl,  with  a  band  of  camels'-hair  rope,  very  soft,  round  his 
head,  to  keep  the  flowing  gear  in  its  place,  and  a  brown-and-white 
striped  "abba"  for  his  outer  dress,  is  trying  to  cheapen  a  bridle  at  a 
saddler's,  who  sits  cross-legged  on  a  counter  running  along  the  street, 
under  a  shaky  projection  of  wood  and  reeds,  which  gives  him  much- 
needed  shade.      At  last  we  emerge  into  freer  air.      There  is  no  longer 
the  pretence  of  stone  under-foot,  but,  rather,  mud  beaten  hard  oy 
traffic,  so  long  as  rr.in  does  not  soften  it  into  a  quagmire.     Had  we 
fone  up  the  face  of  the  hill,  many  of  the  streets  would  have  required 
js  to  mount  by  long  flights  of  steps,  while  the  road  along  the  top  of 
the  hill  to  the  south  is  simply  a  bed  of  deep,  dry  sand.     Outside  the 
town  on  the  north,  however,  after  passing  through  the  open  space 
where  markets  are  held  on  fixed  days,  a  pleasant  lane,  reminding  one 
of  Devonshire  by  its  hedge  of  brambles,  with  nettles  and  grass  below, 
leads  to  the  modest  quarters  where  I  was  to  stay.     Intervals  of  prickly 
pear,  a  huge  ungainly  cactus,  bristling  with  sharp  spines,  constantly 
Drought  one  back  from  the  West  to  the  East,  and  the  landscape  from 
my    window   did   so    no   less.      From  the  sea,  Joppa  appears  to  be 
hemmed  in  with  barren  sand-hills,  but,  on  nearer  approach,  a  fringe  of 
green  borders  it  both  north  and  south.      These  are  the  famous  orange- 
groves,  from  which  literally  millions  of  the  golden  fruit  are  gathered 
in  a  good  year.     They  stretch  inland  about  a  mile  and  a  half,  and  ex- 
tend north  and  south  over  a  length  of  two  miles.     My  room  looked 
out  on  a  sea  of  orangeries,  glowing  with  countless  golden  globes,  which 
formed  a  charming  contrast  to  the  rich  green  leaves.      Other  orchards 
of  pomegranates,  lemons,  almonds,  peaches,  apricots,  bananas,  and  citrons, 
are  numerous;   for  beneath  the  sand  blown  in  from  the  sea  the  soil  is 
rich  and  fertile.    It  is  no  wonder  that  Joppa  has  always  been  a  famous 
summer  retreat  from  Jerusalem.     The  shady  paradise  of  its  groves, 
and  the  cool  sea-breeze,  are  a  great  attraction.      Sea-bathing  would  be 
another  charm  for  Europeans,  but  Orientals  have  curious  notions  about 
cleanliness.      Hence  no  use  is  made  of  the  shore  for  bathing.     As.se8 
and  camels,  laden  with  boxes  of  oranges,  pass  continually  to  the  port. 
Great  heaps  of  the  fruit  lie  ready  for  packing.      Each  tree  has  a  num- 
ber of  stems,  and  every  twig  i&  heavily  laden.    Whi  te  blossoms  alternate 
with  yellow  fruit  on  the  same  branch.     Here  in  Joppa  the  orange  is 
grafted  on  the  stock  of  a  lemon,  the  produce  being  oval  instead  of 
round,  and  incapable  of  propagation  from  seeds. 

The  harvest  is  everywhere  immense,  the  abundance  of  water  being 
the  secret  of  this  fertility.  Wherever  a  well  is  sunk  in  the  orchards, 
it  is  sure  to  tap  a  spiing  at  a  very  moderate  depth.    It  seems,  in  fact, 


t 


t 


L) 


JOPPA   AND  ITS  NEIGHBORHOOD. 


11 


'? 


t 


at)  if  a  great  subterranean  stream  runs  oontinuallv  from  the  hills 
towards  the  sea,  under  the  whole  of  the  lowlands,  from  above  Joppa 
to  Beersheba  in  the  far  south  ;  for  water  can  be  had  everywhere  ira 
well  bo  dug.  The  rains  which  fall  on  the  porous  strata  ot  the  moun- 
tains, or  on  the  soft  bosom  of  the  plains,  filter  downwards  till  stopped, 
not  far  below  the  surface,  by  a  bed  of  hard  limestone,  which  turns 
them  off  in  a  vast  perennial  stream,  down  its  slope,  towards  the  west. 
Every  orchard  has  thus  ample  means  of  irrigation,  eft'ected  by  count- 
less clumsy  water-wheels,  the  creaking  of  which  never  ceases.  These 
ingenious  contrivances,  though  rudely  enough  put  together,  are  at  once 
simple  and  efficient.  An  ox,  a  mule,  or  an  ass,  yoked  to  a  long  pole, 
projecting  from  the  side  of  a  thick  upright  post  and  driven  slowly 
round,  turns  this  beam,  which  carries  on  its  top  a  large  horizontal 
wheel,  with  numerous  wooden  teeth,  working  into  another  wheel  set 
up  and  down,  and  joined  by  a  long  wooden  axle  to  a  third,  revolving, 
mill  fashion,  into  and  out  of  the  well.  This  lets  down  and  draws  up 
in  turn,  as  it  goes  round,  a  series  of  pottery  jars,  or  wooden  buckets, 
fastened  to  it  at  short  intervals  by  two  thick,  endless  ropes  of  palm- 
fibre  or  myrtle-twigs,  the  roughness  of  which  keeps  them  from  slip- 
ping. As  the  jars  or  buckets  pass  over  the  top  of  the  wheel,  full  of 
water,  they  empty  themselves  into  a  large  trough,  from  which  the  life- 
giving  stream  runs  into  a  little  canal  leading  it  through  the  orchard. 
Tliis  is  tapped  every  here  and  there  on  its  way,  and  thus  furnishes 
numberless  brooklets  to  moisten  the  roots  of  each  tree ;  so  that  all,  in 
effect,  are  planted  "by  the  streams  of  waters."^ 

Modifications  of  the  water-wheel  are  naturally  met  with  in  diflPerent 
parts  of  Palestine  and  Syria.  Thus,  on  the  Orontes,  huge  wheels, 
varying  in  diameter  from  fifteen  to  ninety  feet,  are  set  up  between 
strong  walls  at  the  edge  of  the  river,  so  that  in  revolving,  by  the  force 
of  the  current,  the  rim,  armed  with  a  series  of  wooden  buckets,  dips 
into  the  water  and  fills  each  in  succession,  carrying  the  whole  round 
with  it  till,  as  they  begin  to  descend,  after  passing  the  top  of  the  circle, 
the  contents  are  discharged  into  a  trough  leading  to  a  raised  tank, 
from  which  little  canals  run  off  through  the  neighboring  gardens. 
This,  it  is  said,  was  the  machine  by  which  water  was  raised  from  ter-' 
race  to  terrace  of  the  "  hanging  gardens  "  of  Babylon,  to  a  height,  in  all, 
of  four  hundred  feet,  though  the  contriver  of  these  wonderful  imitations 
of  a  wooded  mountain  was  wise  enough  to  conceal,  behind  great  walls, 
the  means  by  which  he  kept  it  green.^  In  many  places,  however,  very 
simple  wheels  are  sufficient,  when  the  water  is  near  the  surface. 
Thus,  at  the  Virgin's  Tree,  near  Cairo,  and  in  many  parts  of  the  sea- 
plain  of  Palestine,  a  horizontal  cog-wheel,  fixed  on  an  upright  shaft, 
from  which  a  long  pole  projects  at  one  side,  works  diieotly  into  an 
lFB.L8(BeTi8edyeraioD).  2  Dlod.  Sic,  U.  U. 


18 


THE   HOLY   LAND   AND  THE   BIBLE. 


[CHAP. 


upright  wheel,  hung  with  wooden  hucicetH  or  earthenware  jnr8,  which, 
in  turn,  dip  under  the  water,  and  duly  empty  their  conteutH,  as  the 
wheel  revolves,  into  a  trough.  A  blindibldcd  ox  at  tho  outer  end  of 
the  polo  keeps  the  whole  in  motion  us  it  paces  round  and  round. 

Flower-beds  and  gardens  of  herbs  are  always  made  iit  a  little  lower 
level  than  ihe  surrounding  ground,  and  arc  divided  into  small  scjuares; 
a  slight  edging  of  earth  banking  the  whole  round  on  each  side.  Water 
is  then  let  in,  and  floods  the  entire  surface  till  the  soil  is  thoroughly 
saturated  ;  after  which  tho  moisture  is  turned  olV  to  unotiier  bed,  by 
simply  closing  the  opening  in  the  one  under  water,  by  a  turn  of  tho 
bare  foot  of  the  gardener,  and  nuUving  another  in  the  same  way  with 
the  foot,  in  the  next  bed,  and  thus  the  whole  garden  is  in  djo  cour.se 
watered,  though  the  poor  gardener  has  a  miserable  task,  paddlin^^' bare 
legged  in  the  mud  hour  after  hour.  It  is  to  such  a  custom,  doubtless, 
that  Moses  refers  when  ho  speaks  of  Egypt  as  "  a  land  where  thou 
sowedst  thv  seed,  and  watcredst  it  with  thy  foot,  as  a  garden  of 
herbs,"^  and  it  is  also  alluded  to  in  Proverbs,  where  we  read  that  "  the 
king's  heart  is  in  the  hand  of  the  Lord  as  the  water-courses;  lie 
turneth  it  whithersoever  Ho  will.''^  Only,  in  this  case,  the  hand  is 
supposed  to  make  the  gap  in  the  clay  bank  of  the  streamlet,  to  divert 
the  current.  There  used  to  bo  a  wheel  in  Egypt  worked  by  a  man's 
feet  treading  on  steps  in  its  circumfei'encc,  and  thus  forcing  it  round  ; 
a  horizontal  support  over  his  head,  held  by  the  hands,  keeping  him  up 
while  doing  so.  But  such  a  literal  treadmill  is  not  so  likely  to  be  the 
watering  with  the  foot  to  which  Moses  referred,  though  small  wheels 
of  this  kind  are  still  to  be  seen  in  Palestine.^ 

In  front  of  my  window,  and  on  the  right,  the  sand  blown  from  the 
shore  stretched  along  the  coast,  as  it  does  everywhere  in  Palestine. 
The  gardens  of  Joppa  have  been  won  from  it  by  industry  and 
irrigation,  which  needs  only  to  be  extended  to  in(Mouse  at  pleasure  the 
area  of  supreme  fertility.  A  palm-tree  rose  in  the  yard  below,  and  a 
few  more  showed  themselves  here  and  there,  clumps  of  other  trees, 
also,  brightening  the  view  at  dift'erent  points.  To  the  left,  a  burial- 
ground  lay  among  scattered  houses,  and  then  came  the  town,  standing 
out  from  the  shore  almost  the  whole  breadth  of  its  hill,  up  the  steep 
slope  of  which  rose  its  flat-roofed  houses,  white,  grey,  and  red,  shutting 
out  all  beyond.  A  tank  for  watering  the  orangery  near  the  "hotel" 
filled  a  yard  close  at  hand,  while  a  set  of  sheds,  built  alongside  it, 

1  Deut.  xl.  10.  2  Prov.  xxi.  1,  2.  3  Robinson,  Bib.  Researches,  i.  542,  thinks  that  the  point  in  the 
reference  of  Moses  is  not  to  t)ie  distribution  of  the  water,  but  ratlier  to  tlie  supply.  He  wouid 
therefore  regard  the  wheel  turned  by  tlie  foot  as  the  mode  of  watering  referred  to  by  Moses. 
Niebuhr  gives  a  sketcii  of  such  a  wlieel  which  lie  saw  in  Egypt.    The  laborer  sits  on  a  level  with 


presses  the  lower  part  from  him  witii  h'is  fee 
where  David  killed  Goliath. 


the  axis  pf  the  wlieel,  and  turns  it  by  pulling  the  upper  part  to  him  witii  his  hands,  while  he 

'    I,    "  '  ' 
3oliath.    It  was  sixty  fe 
UK  over  the  wheel ;  a  mai 
ll.   U< 
leading  to  the  lUils  of  Judab  (Ui.  21). 


Hxed  to  a  rope  passing  over  the  wheel ;  a  man 
and  feet  (11. 


Robinson  saw  such  a  well  in  the  Wady  es  Sunt, 

deep,  and  the  water  was  drawn  up  by  buckets 

pulling  and  pushing  the  wheel  round  with  hands 


It  was  sixty  feet  deep,  and  the  water  was  drawn  up  by  buckets 
he  wheel ;  a  man  pulling  and  pushing  the  wheel  round  witi 
He  saw  also  another  wheel  like  tLls  in  the  same  dlstrlo^-the  sloping  uplands 


r 


LI 


JOPPA   AND  ITS  NEIGHBORHOOD. 


18 


V 


r 


I  't^ 


showed  the  special  characteristic  of  Palestine  architecture  in  a  series 
of  massive  stone  arches,  strong  enough  for  a  castle.  All  the  houses, 
or  most  of  them,  are  equally  solid.  Stone,  as  I  have  said,  costs  little, 
and  wood  is  expensive,  so  that  to  enable  the  builder  to  dispense  with 
timber,  everything  is  arched.  Sheds,  verandahs,  rooms,  upstairs  or  on 
the  ground  floor,  are  all  alike  a  conglomeration  of  arches,  strong 
enough  to  bear  stone  floors,  or  floors  of  cement.  If  no  earthquake 
pay  a  flying  visit  to  Joppa,  its  houses,  one  might  think,  will  stand  for 
ever.  In  front  of  all  tins  prodigality  of  stone  and  lime,  stretched. out 
the  blue  sea,  with  some  steamers  at  anchor  in  the  roadstead ;  the  sky 
above,  as  I  looked,  almost  equally  divided  between  the  deepest  blue, 
and  fleecy  snow-white  clouds. 

Joppa  is  a  very  busy  place,  and  offers  in  its  one  or  two  streets  of 
shops — for  there  are  very  few  in  the  hiPy  part  of  the  town — a  con- 
stantly changing  picture  of  Eastern  life.  These  shops,  as  1  have  said, 
are  simply  arches,  open  by  day,  but  closed  at  night,  and  standing  in 
the  sweetest  independence  of  all  ideas  of  regularity  of  position.  At 
some  parts  the  sides  of  the  street  are  comparatively  near  each  other, 
but  at  one  place  they  bend  so  far  back  as  to  leave  a  wide  space  for  an 
open-air  market.  Everywhere,  however,  it  is  the  same  under-foot. 
By  night  you  need  a  lantern,  or  at  least  a  pilot  ben  ring  one  before  you, 
to  guide  you  clear  of  the  holes,  pools,  rivulets  of  sewage,  mounds  ol" 
rubbish,  blocks  of  stone,  and  varying  uncleanness.  Like  all  other 
Eastern  towns,  it  is  hardly  lighted  at  all:  the  very  few  oil  lamps  hung 
up  at  distant  intervals  by  private  individuals  before  their  houses  serv- 
ing ro  really  useful  purpose.  The  windows  of  an  Eastern  house,  as  a 
rule,  look  into  the  court  at  the  back,  so  that  none  are  seen  from  the 
street,  except  when  there  is  a  second  story.  But  even  in  this  case 
little  light  is  gained,  as  such  windows  are  small,  and  darkened  by  lat- 
tices. This  open  woodwork  is,  indeed,  a  feature  in  all  Oriental  towns. 
It  was  through  such  a  lattice  that  the  anxious  mother  of  Sisera  looked 
when  her  fondly-expected  son  had  been  defeated  by  Deborah  and  mur- 
dered by  Jael,^  and  through  just  such  a  casement  did  the  thoughtful 
watcher  look  out  in  Solomon's  time,  to  note  the  doings  in  the  street 
below.2 

Little  use,  however,  is  made  after  dark  of  such  latticed  chambers, 
except  f  r  sleeping,  and  thus  the  streets  are  not  brightened  by  any 
light  from  them,  while  to  add  to  the  terrors  of  the  outer  darkness,  the 
town  dogs,  which  own  no  master,  prowl  round,  noisy  and  fierce :  a 
hateful  yellow  race,  with  long  heads,  almost  like  those  of  hounds. 
Through  the  day,  in  the  words  of  the  prophet  which  vividly  describe 
them,  "  they  are  all  dumb,  they  do  not  bark ;  dreaming,  lying  down, 
loving  to  slumber ;  "^  but  after  sunset  they  are  astir,  swarming  through 

1  Judg.  T.  28.   2.  Prov.  vil.  6.   8  Isa.lvi.  10. 


14 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


[Chap. 


th'j  streets  and  disturbing  the  night  by  their  howling  and  uproar,  as 
they  roam  about  to  eat  up  the  foul  offal  and  waste  of  the  households, 
which  in  all  Eastern  towns  is  tlirown  into  the  public  roadway ;  these 
Cdnine  scavengers  thus  saving  the  community  from  untold  horrors  of 
disease.  It  was  in  reference  to  this  t'.iat  our  Lord  spoke  when  He  said, 
'Give  not  that  which  is  holy  "  ("clean,"  in  the  Jewish  sense)  "  to  the 
dogs."i  One  needs  a  good  stick  to  defend  himself  if  he  be  abroad 
after  (lark.  "Dogs  have  compassed  me,"  says  the  Psalmist :  "deliver 
my  darling  from  the  power  of  the  dog!  "'2  "  At  evening,"  says  an- 
other psalm,  "let  them  return,  let  them  make  a  noise  like  a  dog,  and 
go  round  about  the  city.  They  shall  wander  up  and  down  formeat."^ 
Sometimes,  indeed,  the  dogs  raise  a  dreadful  barking  if  a  stranger  in 
unusual  dress  approach  the  village  or  appear  in  the  streets,  so  that  it 
was  a  pleasant  assurance  which  Moses  gave  the  Israelites,  that  when 
they  set  out  from  Egypt  "  not  a  dog  should  move  his  tongue  against 
man  or  beast ;  "  *  and  Judith  calmed  the  fears  of  Holofernes  by  telling 
him  she  would  lead  him  so  safely  that  he  would  run  no  risk  of  discov- 
ery through  these  pests.^ 

But  dogs  are  not  the  only  dangers  of  the  streets.  Any  person  found 
in  them  after  nine  o'clock  without  a  light  is  in  danger  of  being  arrested 
by  a  town  watchman,  on  whom  one  comes  with  a  sudden  start,  the 
sound  of  feet  making  him  stir  in  the  darkness,  where,  perhaps,  he  has 
been  asleep  on  the  ground.  This  law  was  doubtless  in  force  at  the 
time  when  poor  Sulamith,  the  bride  in  the  Canticles,  hastening  after 
her  beloved  in  the  night,  was  sei.^ed  by  the  watchmen,  rudely  beaten, 
and  robbed  of  her  mantle.® 

The  bazaar  street  of  Joppa  is,  as  I  have  said,  comparatively  broad 
even  in  the  narrowest  parts,  but  it  is  very  different  in  the  "clefts"' 
that  do  duty  for  streets  in  some  other  parts  of  the  town.  In  these,  the 
small  windows  above  almost  touch  each  other,  and  it  is  a  difficult  mat- 
ter to  pass  any  laden  ass  or  camel  plodding  on  below. 

But  let  us  wander  on  through  the  ^hief  business  street.  At  the 
mouth  of  one  small  arched  shop  a  number  of  gold-finches  in  cages  are 
hung  up  for  sale,  as  others,  no  doubt,  have  been,  over  the  land,  for  thous- 
ands of  years  back,  for  the  maidens  in  Job's  time  toyed  with  birds 
kept  in  captivity.*  The  next  arch  is  a  carpenter's  shop;  the  next  a 
smithy.  A  string  of  camels,  with  firewood,  passes:  mangy-looking 
brutes,  never  cleaned,  and  suffering  badly  from  itch  in  consequence. 
The  hair  is  off  them  in  great  patches,  poor  creatures  I  Arabs,  with 
striped  "abbas,"  or  cloaks,  and  "kefiyehs,"  or  shawls,  over  their  heads 
and  shoulders,  two  rounds  of  i  camels'-hair  rope  keeping  them  in  their 

1  Matt.  vlf.  6.  "Throw"  would  be  better  than  "Give."  2  Ps.  xxll.  16-20.  3  P«.  Hx.  14, 18. 
This  text  may  allude  to  the  jackals  which  prowl  round  cities  and  villages  In  openparts.  4  Ex. 
xl.  7.  5  Juditn  xi  19.  6  Cant.  v.  7.  7  This  Is  the  meuilng  of  «Auit,  the  word  m  Hebrew  for  a 
narrow  street  (Frov.  T4i.  8{  £ccles.  xU.  4, 6).  8  Job  xU.  & 


/ 


•V 


i' 


lil 


JOPPA   ANr  ITS  NEIGHBORHOOD. 


16 


'(^ 


t 


i 


^w 


place,  sit  in  the  shade,  smoking  nargilehs,  or  water-pipes,  in  sublime 
indifference  to  everything  but  the  gossip  of  the  moment.  Dreamy 
idleness  is  dear  to  tlie  Oriental.  He  will  sit  in  the  same  way  in  the 
shade  of  the  oningeries,  with  fellow-idlers,  through  whole  afternoons, 
and  think  it  Paradise.  Indeed,  this  idling  seems  the  greatest  enjoy- 
ment of  the  Joppa  burghers. 

Heaps  of  common  painted  ])ottery  in  the  street  invited  purchasers  a 
few  steps  farther  on,  and  near  them  heaps  of  grain,  in  arched  stores. 
A  man  sat  on  the  ground  hard  at  work  grinding  lentils  into  flour; 
turning  the  upper  stone  of  the  little  mill  wearily  with  one  hand,  as  he 
held  the  under  one  with  the  other.  I  was  glad  to  see,  for  once,  a  man 
rather  than  a  woman  at  such  work.  Large  numbers  of  cocks,  hens, 
and  chickens,  tied  by  tlie  legs,  lay  in  the  street  awaiting  purchasers. 
Egys  were  for  sale  in  great  abundance.  Men  in  turbans,  tarbooshes, 
"  Iceliyehs,"  and  striped  "  abbas,"  brown-and-white,sat  on  all  sides, cross- 
legged,  on  the  ground,  in  tl^e  open  air,  beside  goods  they  offered  for 
sale.  Ai^  unveiled  woman,  of  course  a  Christian,  passed ;  a  silver  ring 
on  one  of  her  fingers,  a  wristlet  of  the  same  metal  on  her  arm,  and 
tattooed  marks  on  her  face.  The  practice  of  printing  indelible  marks 
on  the  face  and  body  has  been  common  in  the  East  from  the  earliest 
ages.  "Ye  shall  not  print  any  marks  on  you,"  says  Leviticus;^ 
tliough  there  seems  to  be  a  limit  of  this  prohibition  in  Exodus,  where 
wo  apparently  read  of  the  deliverance  from  Egypt  being  kept  in 
memory  by  signs  upon  the  hand,  and  a  memorial  between  the  eyes; 
that  is,  on  the  forehead.  ^  In  Isaiah  we  also  read  of  men  subscribing 
with  their  hand,  or  as  many  translate  it,  ''  writing  upon  their 
hand,"  some  proof  of  their  loyalty  to  Jehovah.  It  would  seem, 
therefore,  as  if  the  heathen  pigns  tattooed  by  many  ancient 
nations,  as  by  some  modern  ones,  on  their  faces  or  persons,  were  con- 
demned, wliile  others  vvliich  recognized  the  God  of  Israel  were  permit- 
ted. Moreover,  we  read  of  the  seal  of  the  Living  God  being  set  on 
the  foreheads  of  the  redeemed,^  hereafter:  a  metaphorical  expression, 
indeed,  yet  one  that  could  hardly  have  been  used  by  St.  John  if  all 
i-eligious  marks  o..  the  person  had,  in  the  opinion  of  his  day,  been 
wrong.  But  whatever  may  have  been  the  custom  among  the  ancient 
Jews,  the  practice  of  tattooing  the  hands,  feet,  face,  and  bosom  is  very 
couiinon  now,  both  in  Egypt  and  Palestine.  It  is,  indeed,  universal 
among  the  Arabs,  and  Christian  pilgrims  r^ubmit  to  it  at  Jerusalem,  as 
a  memorial  of  having  visited  the  Holy  places.  In  Egypt  the  practice 
is  very  general  among  women  of  the  lower  classes,  and  even  among 
men.  The  operation  is  perlormed  with  several  needles,  generally  seven, 
tied  together.     With  these  the  skin  is  pricked  in  the  desired  pattern; 

1  Lev.  xlx.  28.  2  Exod.  xlil.  9.  The  word  " sign"  is  that  used  for  the  "mark"  on  Cain,  and 
for  the  blood  on  the  houses  of  the  Hebrews  before  the  death  of  the  firsM>orn  of  the  Egyptians. 
IKev.  vil.6. 


16 


THE  HOLY  LAKD  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


(OBAP. 


smoke-black,  of  wood  or  oil,  mixed  with  human  milk,  is  then  rubbed 
in;  a   paste  of  pounded  fresh  leaves  of  white  beet  or  clover  being 
applied  to  the  punctures,  about  a  week  after,  before  they  are  healed,  to 
give  a  blue  or  greenish  colour  to  the  marks.    It  is  generally  performed 
by  gipsy  women,  when  a  child  is  five  or  six  years  old.*      Gunpowder 
is  very  often  used  in  Palestine,  the  place  tattooed  being  tightly  bound 
up  for  some  time  after.     Maundrell^    describes  the  mode  in  which 
Christian  pilgrims  in  his  day — A.  D.  1697 — had  their  "arms  marked 
with  the  usual  ensigns  of  Jerusalem,"  powdered  charcoal,  gunpowder, 
and   ox-gall  being  the  ingredients  of  the  ink  used  to  rub  into  the 
punctures.     Tattooing  has,  in  truth,  been  employed  in  all  ages,  in  well- 
nigh  every  country.     To-day,  the  Hindoo  has  the  mark  of  his  God  on 
his   forehead,    and   the   English   sailor  a   whole   picture   gallery   on 
his  arms  or  breast.     In  Isaiahl,  there  is  a  wonderftil  passage,  of  which 
such  customs  are  an  illustration.     "Forget  thee,  O  Jerusalem!"  says 
God,  in  effect ;  "how  can  I?  for  I  have  graven  thee  upon  the  palms  of 
my  hands,  so  that,  as  often  as  I  look  down  at  them,  thy  walls  are  con- 
tinually before  me."*      The  mother  may  forget  her  sucking  child,  that 
she  should  not  have  compassion  on  the  son  of  her  womb,  but  God,  thus 
always  reminded  of  His  people,  must  have  them  ever  in  His  thoughts. 
I  a*n  wandering,  however,  from   my  ramble  through  the  bazaar. 
The  ordinary  dress  of  the  women,  of  whom  few  were  to  be  seen,  was  a 
long  sack  of  blue  cotton-stuff',  without  any  fulness,  but  reaching  from 
the  head  to  the  bare  feet,  leaving  the  natural  shape  unspoiled  by  arti- 
ficial outlines.   Any  quantity  of  sweets,  or  garlic,  or  oranges,  can  be  had 
from  stalls  at  the  doors  of  the  shops,  or  in  the  streets  ;  the  oranges  at 
two  or  three  for  a  half-penny.     Horse-trappings  of  all  kinds  had  many 
sellers.     Gi-oceis,  proud  of  their  trade,  sat  amidst  their  stock  spread 
out  in  boxes  at  the  mouth  of  their  little  arch,  or  arrayed  inside.     Here 
is  a  humble  cafe :  only  a  dark  oj)en  arch  of  no  great  size,  with  no  fur- 
niture, and  indeed  quite  empty,  excepting  that  it  has  a  clay  oven,  flat- 
topped,  on  which  an  atom  of  fire  is  kindled  with  a  few  bits  of  charcoal, 
to  boil  coffee  when  wanted.     The  turbaned  proprietor  is  intently  super- 
intending the  operation  of  getting  the  fire  to  light.     A  man  with  white 
turban  and  bare  legs  and  arms  sits  pounding  coffee-berries  in  a  mortar, 
which  he  holds  steady  with  his  two  feet,  a  long  stick  serving  for  pestle. 
A  Bedouin  sits  in  the  middle,  smoking  a  long  wooden-stemmed  pipe; 
an  elderly  apparition  occupies  a  low  rush  stool  and  ))ulls  at  a  nargileh 
in  one  corner,  and  at  the  other  a  man  is  asleep,  with  his  back  against 
the  rough  stone  wall.     At  another  cafe,  farther  on,  a  crowd  of  men  are 
sitting  on  the  same  kind  of  low  rush  stools,  in  the  open  air,  smoking 
nargilehs,  but  apparently  buying  nothing  more  than  the  use  of  the  pipe. 

1  Lane,  Mod.  Egyptians,  i.  46.  2  Journey,  p.  KJO.  3  Isa.  xlix.  15, 16.  4  In  Ps.  x.  14,6od  appears  to 
be  pictured  as  in  tne  same  way  markLip;  the  sins  of  men  on  His  liand,  to  bring  tliem  to  Judg- 
ment iu  due  season,    Instead'of  "  requite  it,"  we  may  read,  "  to  put "  or  "  set  it  upon  Thy  hand?' 


i 


" 


A  BAZAR  IN  JOPPA. 


II      M 


1.1 


' 


JOPPA   AND  ITS   NEIGHBORHOOD. 


17 


At  one  side,  a  seller  of  sweetmeats  and  fruits  presides  over  his  boxes 
and  baskets,  sitting  cross-legged  on  the  i)rojecting  front  ledge  of  the 
cafe  arch  in  all  the  glory  of  turban,  flowing  robes,  and  bare  legs. 
Mysterious  sausage-meat  on  tables  in  the  streets,  or  in  cook-shops, 
awaits  customers,  for  whom  a  portion  of  it  is  squeezed  ro"^cI  a  skewer 
as  it  is  wanted,  and  then  laid  over  a  lighted  charcoal  brazier  on  the 
table,  till  readv  for  eating.  Milk,  bread,  and  vegetables  had  their  own 
purveyors — turbaned  figures  of  imposing  dignity,  who  seemed  to  think 
their  dens  the  most  important  spots  in  the  world.  Leeks,  carrots, 
radishes  like  Bologna  sausages  for  length  and  thickness,  had  numerous 
buyers.  Fish  shops  were  frequent.  Cobblers  drove  a  brisk  trade  in 
the  open  air,  condescending  to  mend  slippers  and  sandals  which  would 
have  been  thrown  into  the  dust-bin  with  us.  Tei led  women  passed 
frequently.  The  street  was  crowded  with  strange  figures,  which  from 
time  to  time  had  to  press  closely  together  to  let  a  drove  of  mules  or 
asses  pass,  laden  with  mysterious  cases  ready  for  export,  or  with  huge 
rough  stones,  or  boxes  of  oranges ;  or  to  make  way  for  a  string  of 
silentt,  all,  splay-footed  camels,  similarly  freighted,  each  tied  to  the 
one  before  it;  the  driver  riding  ahead  on  an  ass,  which  they  implicitly 
followed.  Poiters  with  weights  which  no  Englishman  would  think  of 
carrying  trod  on  through  a  way  readily  openerl  for  them,  from  selfish 
motives.  How  is  it  that  men  who  live  so  poorly  as  these  Eastern 
"  atals"  or  "  hammals"  can  manage  such  loads  r 

You  stand  aside  to  let  one  "  atal "  pass  with  three  or  four  heavy 
portmanteaus  on  his  back;  another  follows,  with  a  box  much  bigger 
than  himself;  and  a  third,  with  two  huge  empty  barrels,  or  a  load  of 
wheat,  or  of  furniture;  the  road  they  have  to  travel,  broken,  rough, 
slippery,  and  often  steep,  making  the  burden  additionally  hard  to 
support.  I  once  saw  half-a-dozen  or  perhaps  eight  men  carrying  a 
hogshead  of  sugar  on  a  thick  pole,  the  ends  of  which  rested  on  their 
shoulders.  It  was  in  Constantinople,  but  Eastern  porters  are  the  same 
everywhere.  They  find  constant  employment,  as  there  are  no  carts  or 
wheeled  conveyances.  Generally  wearing  only  an  almost  indestructi- 
ble coat  of  camels'-hair  cloth  over  their  skirt,  their  whole  stock-in- 
trade  consists  of  a  rope  about  five  feet  long.  Piling  their  intended 
load  together,  they  arrange  their  rope  so  as  to  keep  it  all  in  its  place; 
then,  crouching  down  with  their  back  against  it,  rise  with  a  sudden 
spring  to  their  feet,  assisted  perhaps,  for  the  moment,  by  some  one  near. 
A  loud  grunt,  to  empty  their  lungs,  uniformly  marks  the  terrible 
strain,  but  it  perhaps  saves  the'",  from  a  ruptured  blood-vessel.  They 
remind  one  of  the  heavy  burdens  and  grievous  to  be  borne,  to  which 
our  Lord  compares  the  spiritual  slavery  under  which  the  Pharisees 
laid  the  common  people.  Perhaps  the  "  atals"  of  Christ's  day  supplied 
the  illustration;  but  His  burden,  let  us  rejoice  to  think  is  light. 


18 


THE   HOLY   LAND  AND  THE   BlULE. 


[CHAP. 


One  of  the  chief  sources  of  profit  to  the  townsfolk  is  the  crowd  of 
pilgrims  who  land  at  Joppa  every  spring,  on  the  way  to  Jerusalem, 
each  of  whom  must  spend  some  money  in  tlie  town.  A  Greek  monas- 
tery on  the  quay,  and  the  Franciscan  hospice  at  the  top  of  the  hill, 
offer  shelter  to  a  number,  but  very  many  seek  lodgings  among  the 
townspeople. 

On  the  south  side  of  the  town,  at  the  edge  of  the  sea,  close  to  the 
lighthouse,  one  is  reminded  of  the  visit  of  St.  Peter  to  Joppa  by  the 
claim  of  a  paltry  mosque  to  occupy  the  site  of  the  house  of  Simon  the 
tanner.  The  present  building  is  comparatively  modern,  and  cannot 
be  the  actual  structure  in  which  the  apostle  lodged.  It  is,  however, 
regarded  by  the  Mahommedans  as  sacred,  one  of  the  rooms  being  used 
as  a  place  of  prayer,  in  commemoration,  we  are  to  V  of  "  the  Lord 
Jesus  having  once  asked  God,  while  here,  for  a  rroal;  on  which  a 
table  forthwith  came  down  from  heaven."  Strange  variation  of  the 
story  of  St.  Peter's  vision  1  The  waves  beat  against  the  low  wall  of 
the  court-yard,  so  Hat,  like  the  actual  house  of  Simon,  it  is  close  "  on 
the  sea-shore."  Tanning,  moreover,  in  accordance  with  ths  unchang- 
ing character  of  the  East,  is  still  extensively  carried  on  in  this  part  of 
the  town.  In  the  court  there  is  a  large  fig-tree,  which  redeems  the 
bareness  of  the  spot;  and  a  fine  well  close  to  the  house,  from  which 
the  water  is  'bawn  up  by  a  rope  turning  on  an  axle  worked  by  short 
fixed  spokes,  one  end  of  it  being  in  the  wall,  the  other  in  an  upright 
post.  The  roof  is  flat,  with  a  parapet  round  it,  but  there  is  a  broad 
arch  underneath,  the  front  of  which  is  filled  up  with  square  stones, 
much  weatherworn;  the  doorway,  a  mere  opening  in  the  stonework, 
without  any  door  or  woodwork,  at  the  left  corner  of  the  arch;  a  win- 
dow-space, half  the  size  of  this  door,  up  towards  the  point  of  the  arch; 
the  stones  once  over  it,  to  the  point  of  the  arch,  no  longer  there,;  a 
second  smaller  doorway  on  the  right  side,  half-way  up  the  arch,  at  the 
turn  of  the  rude  stair  by  which  the  housetop  is  reached.  In  the  arch 
on  the  right-hand  side  of  the  court  is  the  mosque,  in  which  a  light  is 
kept  perpetually  burning. 

Let  us  go  up  the  rough  outside  staircase,  and,  like  Peter,  withdraw 
for  a  time  to  the  roof.  Part  of  the  building  is  inhabited,  so  that  we 
cannot  see  the  interior;  but  the  view  from  the  roof,  and  the  roof  Hself, 
well  repay  a  visit.  As  in  Peter's  day,  it  is  flat,  with  the  domes  of  two 
arches  on  each  side  of  the  court  bulging  through  the  level.  The  para- 
pet is  partly  built  of  hollow  earthenware  pipes,  about  five  inches  in 
diameter  and  eight  or  ten  inches  long,  arranged  in  pyramids  close  to 
each  other,  letting  in  the  cool  wind,  and  enabling  any  one  to  look  oat 
without  being  seen.  From  the  top  hang  numbers  of  household  details, 
some  boxes  for  pigeons'  nests  among  them  At  one  angle  of  the  house 
there  is  a  small  square  window-hole  on  the  second  story,  closed  at 


I] 


JOPPA   AND  ITS  NEIQHBORHOOt). 


19 


para- 
es  in 
se  to 
oQt 
tails, 
ouse 
d  at 


night  by  a  wooden  shutter,  now  turned  to  the  wall;  a  larger  one,  with 
its  shutters  open,  is  on  anotlier  face,  and  others  also,  letting  the  light 
into  the  rooms;  but  the  shutters  of  all  are  very  rough  and  old.  A 
pigeon-house  is  built  in  one  corner  against  the  parapet,  the  roof  offer- 
ing a  promenade  for  its  population.  A  rain-spout  juts  out  from  below 
the  parapet,  and  there  is  a  small  chimney  two  or  three  feet  high — a 
mere  toy  in  size — but  sufficient  for  a  kitchen  in  which  only  a  handful 
of  charcoal  is  burned  at  a  time.  Similar  flat  roofs,  with  parapets,  line 
the  three  sides  of  the  hollow  square  of  the  court.  From  such  a  terrace 
St.  Peter's  eyes  rested  on  the  wide  heaven  above,  and  these  shining 
water.s — the  highway  to  the  lands  of  the  Gentile.  Fishermen  were 
then,  perhaps,  wading  between  the  rocks  of  the  harbor,  or  moving 
over  them,  as  now:  a  sight  recalling  long-past  days  to  the  old  fisher- 
man of  Gennesaret.  On  tlie  roof  of  a  one-storied  house  below,  a  man  is 
sleeping  in  the  shade,  while  another  near  him  is  having  his  head 
shaved.  A  high-prowed,  large  boat  lies  near,  with  one  mast  crossed 
by  a  great  bending  spar  fixed  atop,  raking  far  above  our  roof;  the 
cargo  of  earthenware  jars  rising  high  over  the  gunwales.  The  parapets 
round  the  roofs,  by  the  way,  must  be  a  very  ancient  feature  in  Eastern 
houses,  for  the  ancient  Jews  were  told,  "When  thou  buildest  a  new 
house,  then  thou  shalt  make  a  battlement  for  thy  roof,  that  thou  bring 
not  blood  upon  thine  home,  if  any  man  fall  from  thence."^ 

Tlie  site  of  the  house  of  Dorcas  or  Tabitha,  "the  Gazelle,"  three- 
quarters  of  a  mile  east  of  the  town,  is  another  of  the  sights  of  Joppa, 
but  though  the  tradition  respecting  it  is  ancient,  no  reliance  can  be 
placed  on  it.  Assuredly,  however,  if  the  state  of  the  poorer  classes  in 
the  town  2,000  years  ago  were  as  bad  as  it  is  now,  she  must  have  had 
room  enough  for  her  charity.  Extreme  poverty  is  a  characteristic  of 
large  numbers  in  all  Eastern  cities,  and  if  we  may  judge  by  the  appear- 
ance of  the  lower  class  in  Joppa  they  are  no  exception  to  the  rule. 

Joppa  used  to  be  surrounded  by  a  wall,  which,  however,  only  dated 
fiom  the  close  of  last  century,  at  which  period  the  town  was  rebuilt, 
after  having  been  almost  entirely  destroyed  in  the  fifteenth  century. 
The  wall  was  commenced  by  the  English  and  finished  by  the  Turks; 
but  it  has  now  been  levelled  and  its  place  occupied  by  buildings;  the 
ditch  being  filled  up.  The  originf.i  land-gate  was  a  comparatively 
large  structure,  and  had  an  open  space  before  it,  in  which  the.  Governor 
or  Cadi  with  his  suite  still  occasionally  tries  cases,  with  swift  Oriental 
decision,  as  was  the  custom  with  the  ancient  Jews.  Thus,  tliev  wi  iv 
not  to  "oppress  the  aflBicted  in  the  gate"2by  false  witness  beluic  il' 
judge,  or  other  means.  Job  asseverates  tliat  he  had  never  lilted  n[)  iiis 
hand  against  the  fatherless  because  lie  saw  bis  help  in  the  gate,^  as  if 

1  Deut.  xxli.  8.    2  Prov.  xxii.  22.    3  Job  xxxi.  21. 


20 


I'rtE   HOLY   LAND   ANI)  THE   BIBLE. 


{Obap. 


he  deprecated   the  idea  of  over  having  overawed  the  judge  by  the 
number  of  his  nitaiuers. 

On  the  south  of  the  town  lay  formerly  "the  Moon  Pool,"  where  the 
rafts  of  oedar  and  other  timber  for  the  Torn})le  at  Jernsalem  were 
brought  by  the  Phoeniciiins^  in  Solomon's  (hiy ;  and  afterwards,  for  the 
second  Temple,  in  the  (hiys  of  K/ra.-  Jerusalem  is  twelve  hours' 
journey  froni  Jopi)a,  at  tiie  pace  of  a  horse's  walk  over  rongh  ground, 
and  it  must  have  been  a  terrible  matter  to  drug  up  huge  beams  over 
such  a  track.  The  enforced  labor  of  thousands,  so  tyraiiically  used 
by  the  Jewish  king,  must  have  been  required  to  get  tliem  pulled,  step 
by  step,  to  their  destination;  tiie  remembrance  of  tl  e  hideous  sufter- 
ings  of  such  a  task  probably  helping  to  bring  about  the  revolt  of  the 


n\ 


Ten  Tribes  under  his  successor.''  The  Moon  Pool  at  Joppa  has,  how- 
ever, long  been  silted  up  by  the  current,  which  sweeps  along  the  coast 
of  Palestine  from  the  south,  carrying  with  it  sand  and  Nile  mud. 
Pelusium,  Joppa,  Ascalon,  Sidon,  and  Tyre  havi?  all  been  destroyed  as 

f)orts,  in  the  course  of  ages,  from  this  cause,  and  Alexandria  would 
lave  shared  the  same  fate  had  not  the  genius  of  its  founder  guarded 
against  the  danger  by  choosing  a  site  to  the  west  of  the  mouths  of  the 
great  Egyptian  river. 

It  was  from  Joppa  that  the  prophet  Jonah  sought  to  flee  from  his 
duty  by  taking  passage  in  a  gre.at  Phoenician  ship  bound  for  Tarshish: 
apparently  the  district  round  Cadiz,  in  Sj)ain.  Strangely,  there  is  a 
record  in  Pliny's  "  Natural  History  "*  of  bones  of  a  sea-monster  sent 
from  Joppa  to  Rome  by  Marcus  Scaurus,  the  younger,  who  was 
employed  in  Judsea  by  Pompey.  They  measured  forty  i'eet  in  length, 
and  were  greater  in  the  span  of  the  ribs  than  that  of  the  Indian  ele- 
phant, while  the  backbone  was  a  foot  and  a  half  in  diameter.  Natur- 
ally, in  simple  eyes,  these  remains  were  supposed  to  be  those  of  the 
very  "fish  mentioned  in  the  story  of  the  prophet,  but  they  at  least 
show  that  sea-beasts  of  huge  size  have  not  been  unknown  in  the  Medi- 
terranean in  any  age.^ 

The  history  of  Joppa  has  been  stirring  enough  in  past  ages.  When 
Joshua  had  mapped  out  the  land  to  Israel  it  was  assigned  to  the  tribe  of 
Dan,^  but  they  could  not  wrest  it  from  its  Phoenician  inhabitants.  It 
first  became  Jewish  under  the  Maccabees,  in  the  second  century  before 
Christ.  A  number  of  Hebrews  had  settled  in  it,  and  from  some  cause 
had  incurred  wide-spread  popular  hatred,  which  took  a  terrible  way  of 
asserting  itself.  "  The  men  of  Joppa  prayed  the  Jews  that  dwelt  among 
them  to  go,  with  their  wives  and  children,  into  the  boats  which  they  had 
prepared,  as  though  they  had  meant  them  no  hurt;  but  when  they 
were  gone  forth  into  the  deep,  they  drowned  no  less  than  two  hundred 

1  2  Chron.  li.  16.  2  Ezra  ili.  7.  3  2Chion.  x.  4;  1  Kings  v.  13.  4  Plin.  Nat.  Hist.,\x.  5.  5  Sepp. 
Jenualem,  wnd  das  Heilige  Land,  vol.  1.  4,  gives  a  number  of  instances.  Many  also  are  quoted  by 
Dr.  I'usey  in  bis  Minor  Prophels.   6  Josh.  xix.  46. 


[Otur. 


by  the 

licre  the 
ni  were 
,  lor  tlie 
3  1 1  ours' 
groin  ul, 
ins  over 
lly  used 
led,  step 
s  snfter- 
It  of  the 
as,  how- 
he  coast 
le  mud. 
royed  as 
i  would 
guarded 
IS  of  the 

Prom  his 

arshish: 

re  is  a 

Iter  sent 

ho  was 

length, 

lan  ele- 

Natur- 

of  the 

at  least 

Medi- 

When 
tribe  of 
its.  It 
before 
cause 
way  of 
among 
ey  liad 
n  tliey 
undred 

5  Sepp. 
uoted  by 


:rfr4l' 


M  JOri'A   AND  ITS   NKTOIinoHirooD.  21 

of  tlioin."*  Such  an  atrocity  drew  down  the  sneodv  vengeance  of 
Judas  MaccabflBUs.  "  Galling  on  the  righteous  Judge,  he  oaine  against 
those  murderers  of  his  brethren,  and  burnt  the  haven  bv  night,  and  set 
the  boats  on  fire,  and  those  that  flew  thither  he  slew/^  It  was  Jon- 
athan, the  youngest  of  the  Maccabajan  brethren,  however,  who  with 
the  help  of  his  brother  Simon,  first  actually  gained  the  town  for  the 
Jews* — B.  0.  147.  Pompey,  eighty-four  years  later,  added  Joppa  to 
the  Roman  province  of  Syria,  but  Augustus  gave  it  back,  after  the  fall 
of  Antony  and  Cleopatra — B.  c.  80 — to  Herod  the  Great,  so  that  it  • 
became  once  more  Jewish,  and  it  was  held  by  his  son  Arohelaus  till 
he  was  deposed  and  banished,  A.  D.  6 — t.hat  is,  when  our  Lord  was 
about  ten  years  of  age.  Under  Vespasian  it  suft'ered  terribly ;  its 
population  naving  largely  turned  pirates.  It  was,  in  fact,  virtually 
destroyed.  Since  then  its  fortunes  have  been  various :  now  Roman, 
next  Saracen,  next  under  the  Crusaders,  then  under  the  Mamelukes, 
and  next  under  the  Turks,  to  whom  it  still,  to  its  misfortune,  belongs. 
The  population  at  this  time  is  given  by  some  authorities  at  16,000,*  by 
others  at  only  8,000,*^  of  whom  300  are  Europeans  and  8,000  Jews. 

On  the  south-east  of  the  town  a  settlement  of  the  Universal  Israel- 
itish  Alliance  has  hvm  able  to  obtain  a  tract  of  780  acres,  one-third  of 
which,  before  unreclaimed,  they  have  turned  into  fruitful  fields  and  ' 
gardens.  Their  vineyards  and  those  of  others  skirt  the  orchards  on 
the  south ;  the  vines  trailing  low  over  the  sand,  but  yielding  large  and 
delicious  grapes.  On  the  north  there  are  large  gardens  owned  by  the 
Franciscans,  and  bordering  these,  also,  are  vineyards  owned  by  a  Ger- 
man colony.  A  settlement  of  Egyptians,  brought  there  fifty  years  ago  • 
by  Ibrahim  Pasha,  live  in  great  wretchedness  in  low  mud  cabins  along 
the  shore  to  the  north  :  a  herd  of  poor  creatures  stranded  here,  when  > 
the  tide  of  war  that  had  swept  them  from  their  native  land  finally 
ebbed.  But  war  has  a  still  more  vivid  memento  to  show,  close  to 
the  town,  for  a  spot  is  still  pointed  out  on  the  sand-hills  to  the  south- 
east where  Napoleon  I.  caused  between  two  and  three  thousand  Turk- 
ish soldiers  to  be  shot  down  in  cold  blood,  to  save  him  the  trouble  of 
taking  them  with  him  to  Egypt. 

1  2  Maco.  xii.  3, 4.   2  2  Mace.  xil.  6.    8  1  Mace.  x.  76.   ifUehm,  Handteorterbuehand  Oadwer  BiM' 
Lex.   6  Pakftine  Fund  Memoirt,  il.  256;  PicL  PaUtHne,  il.  138. 


22 


THE  HOLY   LAND   AND  THE  BIBLE. 


[Chap. 


CHAPTER  II. 


LYDDAH — K  A  MLEH. 


I 


If  you  like  an  "omnibus,"  with  its  load  of  passengers,  you  can 
drive  each  day  from  Joppa  to  Jerusalem,  but  I  prefer  going  on  horse- 
back. One  can  stop  when  he  likes,  and  can  escape  the  din  of  a  light- 
hearted  set  of  tourists  "doing"  the  country  in  a  very  mechanical  way. 

Tiie  road  to  Lydda,  now  called  Ludd,  leaves  Joppa  at  the  north-east 
corner  of  the  town  and  runs  south-east,  along  a  broad,  sandy  road, 
through  gardens  fenced  with  prickly  pear,  which  extend  nearly  two 
miles  back  from  the  sea.  On  tlie  left,  half  a  mile  out,  in  one  of  the 
gardens,  is  a  good-sized  pool,  a  pleasant  sight  in  this  thirsty  land,  and 
a  little  further  on,  at  a  fork  of  the  road,  stands  a  noble  fountain, 
called  after  a  governor  of  Joppa  who  died  about  the  beginning  of  this 
century,  and  left  this  fine  memorial  of  his  kindly  nature.  It  is  built 
of  white  stone,  with  an  arched  recess  in  the  middle,  before  which,  on  a 
line  with  the  walls,  is  a  wide  trough,  at  which  some  poor  donkeys, 
heavily  laden  as  usual,  were  slaking  their  thirst.  A  wall  a  little 
broader  tbai  the  recess  extends  on  each  side  of  this,  with  a  rounded 
shaft  at  each  comer,  surmounted  by  a  sugar-loafed  dome,  the  sides  run- 
ning back  so-as  to  form  a  parallelogram.  In  each  end  is  a  blank  arch, 
for  ornament ;  and  in  the  I'ront,  on  each  side  of  the  archway,  about  eight 
feet  up,  two  long,  narrow,  arched  window-spaces.  A  number  of  sugar- 
loaf  domes  above  complete  the  ornaments  of  the  structure,  which  is  the 
finest  of  its  kind  in  Palestine.  Tlie  walls  are  about  twenty  feet  high  ; 
the  centre  cupola  perhaps  twelve  feet  higher.  Inside  lies  the  generous 
founder ;  for  the  building  is  at  once  a  fountain  and  a  tomb.  No  pub- 
lic gift  is  more  appreciated  in  the  East  than  a  fountain,  erected  in  the 
belief  that  kindness  shown  by  us  in  this  world  will  not  be  forgotten  in 
the  next,  and  hence  there  is  not  a  to\vft  of  any  size  which  does  not 
boast  of  at  least  one.  One  at  Joppa,  which  I  had  forgotten  to  men- 
tion, stands  near  the  old  site  of  the  city  gate:  eight  pointed  arches, 
resting  on  columns  rising  on  a  paved  square,  amidst  a  thoroughly 
Oriental  surrounding  of  squalid  stalls  and  dark  cells,  miscalled  shops ; 
some  plane-trees  growing  beside  it.  At  the  roadside,  in  different  paiis, 
one  often  comes  on  a  low  plnstered  cube  with  an  opening  in  front,  and 
water  within,  placed  there,  each  day,  by  women  returning  from  the 
well,  ih at  passers  by  may  be  refreshed  by  it.  The  water  supply  of 
Palestine,  except  in  favored  districts,  has  in  all  ages  been  limited, 
and  of  course  there  luus  never  been  any  such  provision  as  there  is 
with  us  for  bringing  it  io  each  house.  Hence,  as  in  Jerusalem  at  this 
time,  at  least  one  cistern  is  formed  under  each  dwelling,  to  collect  the 


[Chap. 


lops; 

)ai*ts, 

and 

the 

^lyof 

lited, 

?re  is 

this 

It  the 


^■«^ 


ni 


LYDDAH — RAMLEH. 


28 


rain-water  from  the  roof.  A  well  in  the  inner  court  of  a  house  was  in 
ancient  times,  as  it  is  still,  a  mark  of  wealth,^  though  it  might  be  only 
a  gathering  of  rain-water — not  a  spring.  Mesa,  of  Moab,  in  the 
famous  stone  on  which  lit;  caused  his  memorial  of  victory  to  be 
engraved,  tells  us  that  he  had  ordered  every  householder  in  Korcha 
Dibon  to  make  a  cistern  of  his  own  dwelling ;  and  this  custom,  thus 
followed  in  all  ages  with  private  houses,  has  also  been  that  of  the 
wiiole  open  country.  The  ground  everywhere  is,  as  it  were,  honey- 
combed with  ancient  cisterns,  many,  no  doubt,  dating  from  the  time  of 
the  old  Canaaniteg,  before  Moses,  for  their  wells,  or  cisterns,^  are  spoken 
of  by  him,  and  in  a  later  day  by  the  Lovites,  at  Ezra's  great  fast.^ 
These  reservoirs  must  sometimes  have  been  of  great  size,  for  in  the 
well  or  cistern  made  by  King  Asa  at  Mizpeh  there  was  room  for 
seventy  corpses,*  Even  in  the  very  region  through  which  we  are  pass- 
ing— the  fringe  of  low  hills  and  the  rolling  plain  of  Sharon,  stretching 
from  Joppa,  north — King  Uzziah  had  to  expend  much  labor  in  secur- 
ing sufficient  water  for  his  numerous  flocks.  We  read  that  "  he  built 
towers  in  the  pasture  country  [for  his  shepherds  and  flocks]  and 
hewed  out  many  cisterns  ;  for  he  had  much  cattle,  both  in  the  Shep- 
helah  [the  low  iiills  sloping  to  the  plains]  and  in  the  Mi sh or"  [the 
smooth  grassy  pasture-land,  free  from  rocks  and  stones].^  Their 
shape  is  often  that  of  huge  bottles,  narrowed  at  the  neck  to  keep  the 
water  cool.  Stones  were  generally  laid  round  the  mouth,  which  i  .self 
was  covered  with  a  great  stone,  requiring  no  little  strength  to  push  or 
roll  aside.  Thus  several  men  wcre  required  to  move  the  one  which 
covered  the  cistern  belonging  to  Laban.^  In  some  places,  as  we  shall 
see,  these  cisterns  are  carefully  hewn  out  of  the  rock,  but  they  are 
sometimes  walled  with  blocks  of  stones,  and  in  all  cases  they  are 
coated  with  water- proof  cement.  Springs  rise  to  the  surface  only  in  a 
few  localities  in  Palestine ;  indeed,  in  the  south  there  may  be  said  to 
be  none.  In  Jerusale-n  there  is  but  one,  although  there  are  at  least 
four  wells  of  living  watar,  more  or  less  sewage-poisoned.  Bethlehem, 
even  in  Jerome's  day,  was  mainly  dependent  on  cisterns,'^  and  <;he 
two  fortresses,  Jotapata  and  Masada,  had  only  rain-cisterns.® 

The  fountain  of  Abu  Nabat,  which  has  led  to  this  digression,  is 
known  by  the  name  of  the  Tomb  of  Tabitha  or  Dorcas,  but  there  is  no 
weight  in  the  tradition  which  tlius  distinguishes  it.  Close  to  it,  among 
the  orchards  stretcliing  to  the  north,  M.  Clermont  Ganneau  was  fortu- 
nate enough  to  discover,  in  1874,  tlie  ancient  cemetery  of  Joppa,  con- 
taining many  rock-hewn  tombs,  all  long  since  empty.  Lamps  and 
vases  of  terra-cotta,  and  stones  with  inscriptions,  are  constantly  found 
in  its  limits  by  the  peasantry,  to  whom  the  larger  blocks  are  quite  a 
treasure  for  building  purposes. 

1  2 Sam.  xvll.  18;  Jer.  xxxvlll.  6;  Isa.  xxxvt.  16;  ?ro¥.  v.  16.    2  Deiit.  vl.  11.    3  Neh.  Ix.  25.    4  Jer., 
xli.  9.   6  2  Chron.  xxvi.  10.   6  Geu.  xxix.  3.   7  Hleron,  on  Amos,  iv.  7.   8  Joa.  Ant.,  xiv.  14,  6, 


24 


THE   HOLY   LAND   AND  THE  BIBLE. 


[GBAF. 


Branching  off  to  the  south-east,  through  the  grouftds  of  the  Jewish 
Agricultural  Colony,  the  road  passes  the  first  of  a  series  of  four  guard- 
houses on  the  nine  miles  between  Joppa  and  Kainleh — a  «ad  evidence 
of  the  insecurity  of  tlie  land  under  Turkish  rule.  On  tlie  left  hand  is 
Yazur,  a  small  mud  village  standing  amidst  gardens,  and  said  to  have 
once  had  a  church.  The  telegraph  wire  to  Jerusalen  runs  alongside 
the  road,  on  the  right.  Behind  Yazur,  about  a  mile  north-east,  lies  a 
similar  village,  called  Ibn  Ibrak,  thought  to  be  Bene  Berak,  of  the 
tribe  of  Dan.i  Neur  this,  during  winter,  rain-w^ater  stands  in  pools  at 
different  points.  Slanting  to  the  left,  beyond  Yazur,  the  road  leads  on 
towards  Ludd,  the  Lydda  of  the  New  Testament,  passing  on  the  way, 
amidst  olive-trees  round  and  near  it,  the  village  of  Beit  Dejan,  the 
Beth  Dagon  of  the  tribe  of  Judah,^  famous,  as  the  name  iraphes,  in 
the  days  of  the  Philistines  for  the  local  worship  of  their  great  fish-god 
Dagon.  That  people  would  seam,  therefore,  at  some  time,  to  have 
occupied  the  lowlands  as  fur  north  as  this.  A  mile  and  a  half  farther 
off'  to  the  '•ortii,  still  on  the  plain,  is  Kefr  Ana,  that  is,  the  village  of 
Ana,  "x  name  thought,  by  Robinson,^  to  show  that  the  tri.  ngle  of  plain 
between  Joppa,  Lydda,  and  a  clump  of  low  hills  rising  to  the  east  of 
Joppa,  like  an  island  in  the  level  round  them,  was  the  part  known  in 
Scripture  as  the  Plain  of  Ono,*  but  also,  apparently,  as  "the  Crafts- 
men's Plain.'I^  Ono  itself  was  a  Benjamite  town,  somewhere  near 
Lydda,  and  always  mentioned  in  connection  with  i^  so  that  Ana  would 
suit  in  this  particular,  though  there  is  the  difficulty  that  the  Talmud 
says  Ono  was  three  miles  from  Lydda,  whereas  this  place  is  five.  But 
the  site  of  the  present  village  may  have  changed  to  this  extent  in  the 
troubled  history  of  the  country.  Two  shallow  basins,  holloved  out  in 
the  rock,  not  built,  receive  the  winter  ruins,  and  there  are  several 
wells,  from  which  a  few  gardens  on  one  side  of  the  village  are  irrigated. 
You  go  nowhere  in  Palestine  without  meeting  ruins  and  here,  beside 
the  wells,  ancient  shafts  of  pillars  speak  of  glory  passed  away.  A 
mile  beyond  Ono,  or  Ana,  still  to  the  north-east,  is  another  collection 
of  F'ud  huts — the  village  of  El-Yehudiyeh,  thought  by  Robinson  to  be 
Jehud  of  Dan.^  It  is  twice  the  size  of  Ana,  having  a  population  of 
from  800  to  1,000,  and  it  boasts  of  some  gardens  on  its  north  side. 
Midway  between  it  and  Ana,  moreover,  there  is  a  tract  of  gardens, 
about  half  a  mile  broad,  and  extending  more  than  a  mile,  to  the  foot 
of  the  isolated  low  hills  on  the  north.  A  rain-pond,  surrounded  by 
palms,  lies  a  little  south  of  the  village,  within  mud-banks  renewed 
each  winter.  The  patriarch  Judah  is  said  by  the  Samaritans  to  have 
been  buried  here.  Two  miles  still  further,  in  the  same  line  as  El 
Yehudiyeh,  the  village  of  Rantieh,  a  very  small  place,  wat  visible:  a 
spot  noticeable  from  its  having  been  thought  by  Dr.  Robinson  to  be 

1  JoHh.  xix.  46.    2  Josh.  xv.  41.  3  Bib.  Ees.  App.,  pp.  120, 121.  4 1  Cbron.  vili.  12; Nell.  vl.  2.  6  Neb, 
xl.35;  ICIuoii.  iv.  14.    6  Josh.  xix.  45. 


/ 


jdby 


5  Neb. 


AT  THE  MOeQUE  IN  JOFPA. 


m 


LYDDAH — ftAMLEtt. 


25 


tlie  site  of  Arimathaea,  famous  in  Gospel  history.  But  the  identifica- 
tion is  very  doubtful,  for  "  Arimathsea"  is  only  a  variation  of  IJa 
Ratna,  "the  Height,"^  famous  as  the  birth-place,  home,  and  burial- 
place  of  the  ])rophet  Samuel,^  and  it  is  thitlter,  rather  than  to  Rantieh, 
we  must  looic  for  the  home  of  the  illustrious  disciple  who  craved  and 
obtained  the  body  of  our  Lord  from  Pilate.  About  a  mile  beyond 
Rantieh  the  slopes  of  the  hills  begin;  their  base  covered  with  exten- 
sive olive-orchards. 

As  we  rode  on  towards  Lydda,  the  landscape,  dotted  with  these  vil- 
lages, presented  in  a  gradually  receding  sweep  the  great  physical  divi- 
sions of  tlie  country  in  this  part.  First  came  the  broad  plain,  undulat- 
ing in  low  waves  towards  the  hills  on  the  east.  These  rise  in  fertile 
slopes  to  a  height  of  about  500  feet  above  the  sea,  and  constitute  the 
second  district,  known  in  the  Bible  as  the  Shephelah,^  or  "  Low  Land  " : 
a  region  of  soft  white  lime-stone  hills,  with  broad  ribbons  of  brovvn 
quartz  running  through  them  here  and  there.  The  wide  straths  lead- 
inu;  up  to  the  mountains,  wlrich  form  the  third  district,  are  especially 
fertile ;  the  valleys  waving  with  corn  and  the  hill-sides  covered  with 
oh've-trees,  which  flourish  better  in  this  district  than  in  any  other. 
Vi Mages  also  are  most  frequent  in  this  middle  region,  where  there  was 
some  security  on  account  of  it.3  elevation  above  the  plain;  and  springs 
are  found  here  and  there,  with  wells  of  all  dates.  In  former  times  the 
Shephelah  must  have  been  densely  populated,  for  the  Palestine  Fund 
Surveyors  sometimes  discovered  in  it  as  many  as  three  ancient  sites 
within  two  square  miles. 

But  we  must  hurry  on  towards  Lydda,  for  its  wide  gardens  now  lie 
belbre  us  as  we  cross  the  low  spur  on  which  stand  the  mud  hovels  of 
another  village,  with  a  nice  sprinkling  of  olive  trees  above  it,  on  ihe 
slope  to  the  south.  For  more  than  a  mile  before  we  reach  the  town, 
the  road  is  skirted  with  orchards  and  gardens  surrounding  it  on  all 
sides  except  the  east,  which  is  close  to  the  hills.  Most  of  these  gardens 
have  wells  of  their  own,  which  accounts  for  their  vigor  and  fruitful- 
ness. 

Lydda  is  famous  as  the  reputed  place  of  the  birth  and  burial  of  the 
patron  saint  of  England,  St.  George.  He  is  said  to  have  suffered  mar- 
tyrdom in  Nicomedia,  the  capital  of  ancient  Bithynia,  from  which  his 
remains  were,  it  is  averred,  carried  to  his  native  town,  where  his  head 
is  still  thought  to  lie  below  the  altar  of  the  church  consecrated  to  him. 
That  he  was  a  real  personage  there  can  be  no  doubt,  and  that  he  did 
noble  service  in  his  day  can  hardly  be  questioned,  from  the  earliness  of 

1  In  the  Septuagint  it  is  Araniatliaim,  from  Ramathaim,  "tlie  Two  Heights."  In  1  Sam.  i.  1, 
the  Septuagint  reads  "ot  Ramathaim,  a  Zuphite."  2  1  Sam.  i.  19;  vii.  17;  xxv.  1.  3  The  follow- 
ing are  the  texts  in  which  it  occurs,  and  its  readings  in  the  A.  V.:— Vale,  Vallet,  or  Valleys: 
Deut.  i.  7 :  Josh.  i*.  1 ;  x.  4U ;  xi.  2, 16 ;  xli.  8 ;  xv.  33 ;  .Tudg.  i.  9 ;  1  Kings  x.  27 ;  2  Ghron.  i.  15.  Low 
Plains:  IChron.  xxvii. 28;  2Ghron.  ix.  27.  LowCoumtry:  2Chron.xxvi.lO;  xxviil.  18.  Plain: 
)er.  xvii.  26;  Obad.  xix. ;  Zech.  vii.  7. 


26 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


[Ohap. 


his  fame,  and  the  honor  in  which  he  has  always  been  held  by  both 
the  Eastern  and  the  Western  Church.  But  it  is  a  lesson  on  the  vanity 
of  human  greatness  to  find  that,  like  so  many  heroes  famous  in  their  day, 
he  is  now  no  more  than  a  name  to  the  world  at  large.  A  fine  church, 
which  dates  from  about  A.  i).  1150,  still  exists  in  Lydda,  with  a  crypt 
containing  what  is  called  St.  George's  Tomb.  One  arch  is  still  com- 
plete, and  the  side  of  a  larger  one,  but  tlic  outer,  smoothed  stones  have 
either  fallen,  or  been  carried  off*  from  the  wall  connecting  these  shat- 
tered remains  of  what  must  once  have  been  a  splendid  building.  The 
nave  and  north  aisles  have,  however,  been  partly  rebuilt,  and  are  used 
as  a  Greek  church  ;  two  lines  of  columns  having  been  restored.  The 
rest  of  the  site  is  used  as  the  court  of  a  mosque  1  When  perfect,  the 
total  length  of  the  church  was  150  feet,  and  it  was  79  feet  broad.  A 
chapel  of  St.  James,  standing  to  the  south  of  the  church,  is  now  the 
mosque,  the  court  of  which  covers,  moreover,  two-thirds  of  the  whole 
site.  But,  compared  with  the  splendid  building  of  the  Crusaders,  the 
Mahommedan  sanctuary  is  rude  and  squalid  in  the  extreme :  a  fit  con- 
trast between  the  creeds  tliey  respectively  represent.  How  much  may 
lie  buried  under  the  ruins !  Twenty  years  ago  thirty  coffins  and  a  fine 
sarcophagus  were  discovered  by  some  chance  digging,  but  all  the  bod- 
ies were  headless!^  The  church  is  at  the  south-west  of  the  town, 
and  is  built  of  pale  yellow  stone,  from  quarries  on  the  way  to  Jeru- 
salem. 

The  population  of  Lydda  in  1851,  the  date  of  the  last  report,  wns 
1,345,  but  with  the  villages  of  the  district  round,  united  with  it  inoffi- 
cial arrangements,  was  4,400.  Its  present  squalor  and  decay  are  a  sad 
contrast  to  its  former  prosperity,  of  which  one  is  often  reminded  by  the 
remains  of  fine  buildings  still  seen  among  its  miserable  mud  hovels. 
There  used  to  be  large  soap  foctories,  but  they  are  no  longer  in  exist- 
ence. 

It  was  perhaps  by  the  Roman  road  to  Lydda  that  St.  Paul  was 
brought  OL  his  way  to  Caesarea,  A.  D.  58  ;*  but  there  had  been  a  Chris- 
tian community  there  long  before  he  passed  through  as  a  prisoner,  for 
St.  Peter  "came  down  to  the  saints  that  we;e  at  Lydda,"  and  healed 
the  paralytic  ^neas,^  and  he  went  from  it  to  Joppa,  at  the  invitation 
of  the  Christians  in  that  town,  when  the  generous- hearted  Dorcas  fell 
sick  and  died,  *  soon  after  the  conversion  of  St.  Paul,  about  the  year 
A.  D.  35,  nearly  six  years  after  the  crucifixion  of  our  Lord.*^ 

The  ride  from  Lydda  to  Ramleh  is  through  orchards  of  olives,  pome- 
granates, apricots,  almonds,  and  other  fruit-trees,  with  mulberries  and 
sycamores  varying  the  picture.  The  two  places  are  a  little  more  than 
two  miles  apart,  Ramleh  lying  to  the  soutn-west ;  but  the  two  oases  of 

i  Paul.    Memoirs,   !i.  2r)8.    2  lilehin:    art.    PaulUB.    8  Acts   ix.    32.    4  Acts  ix.  88.    5  It  is  to  be 
rMiu  umbered  that  Christ  was  born  (our  years  before  our  Anno  Domini  1. 


Ill 


LYDDAH — RAMLEH. 


27 


verdure  round  tbein,  so  striking  in  the  great  treeless  plain,  almost  meet. 
In  the  spring  every  open  space  glows  with  scarlet  anemones,  inter- 
mixed with  clouds  of  ranunculus,  saffron,  and  other  wild  flowers,  tall 
reeds  of  long  grass  fringing  every  moist  hollow.  Its  name,  Ramleh 
— "  the  Sandy  " — indicates  the  character  of  the  soil  on  which  it  stands  ; 
but  though  sandy,  it  is  fertile.  To  the  south  indeed,  towards  Ekron, 
the  sand  is  deep,  and  makes  the  cultivation  difficult,  but  even 
there  olive-yards  and  gardens  flourish,  tlianks  to  irrigation  from  the 
numerous  wells.  Both  Ramleh  and  Lydda  are  embayed  among  the 
low  hills  of  the  Shephelah  on  all  sides  but  the  north;  Ramleh  standing 
on  the  east  side  of  a  broad,  low  swell.  Thougli  the  larger  place  of  the 
two,  it  has  no  such  charm  of  antiquity  as  its  neighbor,  since  it  was 
Ibuuded  only  iu  the  eighth  century,  when  Lydda  had  been  temporarily 
destroyed.  Many  large  vaulted  cisterns  and  other  remains,  on  all  sides 
except  the  south,  where  the  hills  are  close,  show  that  it  must  once 
have  been  much  larger  than  it  is;  but  it  could  never  have  supported 
very  large  community,  the  only  water  8U))ply  being  derived  from 


wells  and  tanks  ibr  rain.  Some  ot  these,  of  great  size,  but  now  useless, 
still  show  their  age  by  inscriptions  on  them  in  Cufic,  or  eiuly  Arabic. 
Two  ruins  in  the  town  are  its  chief  attraction :  an  ancient  Ciusading 
church,  long  ago  turned  into  a  Moslem  sanctuary,  and  a  lofty  towei* 
known  as  the  White  Mosque,  to  the  west  of  the  houses.  The  former, 
still  in  comparatively  good  repair,  with  what  was  i.pparently  its  origi- 
nal roof,  is  no  less  than  150  feet  long  and  75  feet  broad,  almost  the 
same  size  as  the  Church  of  St.  George  at  Lydda;  but  the  whole  inte- 
rior has  been  whitewashed,  so  tliat  the  fine  carving  of  the  pillars  is  in 
great  part  concealed.  Tliat  two  churches  of  such  size  and  splendor 
should  have  been  built  by  the  Crusaders  so  near  each  other  is  a  tri- 
umph of  Western  energy  at  once  emphatic  ard  elo<;^uent.  What  men 
they  must  have  been  who  raised  them  in  sucl:.  a  land,  and  such  an  age, 
far  from  the  aids  of  civilization!  The  one  at  Ramleh  is  perhaps  the 
finest  and  best- preserved  memorial  of  Crusading  architecture  in  Pal- 
estine. 

In  a  large  enclosure,  about  300  feet  one  way  and  280  the  other, 
stands  the  White  Tower,  twenty-six  feet  square  at  its  base,  and  120 
feet  high,  a  marvel  of  beautiful  masonry.  It  is  said  to  be  the  minaret 
of  a  great  mosque,  now  destroyed ;  but  it  looks  much  more  like  the 
gigantic  square  tower  of  a  ruined  church.  Yet  we  have  the  weighty 
opinion  of  the  officers  of  the  Palestine  Sarvey  that  the  details  show 
the  whole  edifice  to  have  been  built  by  Arab  workmen,  from  the 
designs  of  a  European  architect.  It  seems  to  date  from  about  the  year 
A.  D.  1300.  In  the  enclosure,  south  of  the  tower,  are  four  huge  vaults, 
lighted  from  above,  all  dry  and  perfect,  the  two  largest  eighty  feet  from 
north  to  south  and  a  little  less  from  east  to  west ;  the  other  two  not 


fid 


THfi    HOLY    LAND  ANt)  THE   filHLE. 


[Chap. 


I 

I 


much  smaller.  One  oftlie  lour  is  full  oi'  stones,  llie  memorials  of  pil- 
grims  who  each  add  one  to  tlie  huge  mass.  ^I'lie  vaults  are  all  about 
tvventy-flvo  feet  dee]);  their  roofs  being  suj)})orte(l  by  rows  of  atone 
columns.  Along  tlie  east  and  soufli  of  tlie  enclosure  are  remains  of  an 
arcade  or  colonnade  ;  and  traces  cf  chambers,  tor  the  officials  t-f  the 
mosque,  arc  visible  on  the  west  side.  The  })a8t  history  of  the  spot  is, 
however,  unknown.  Tall  slender  buttr«.sses  rise  at  the  four  corners  to 
more  than  half  the  height  of  the  tower,  which  narrows  in  size  above 
them  in  its  two  succeeding  stories;  a  staircase  of  126  steps  winding- 
inside  the  otherwise  solid  masonry  to  the  gallery  at  the  top.  The 
huge  mass  has  doubtless  often  been  loughly  shaken  by  earthquakes, 
but  it  stands  unrent  as  yet.  A  succession  of  windows  of  various 
shai)es  but  all  with  jminted  ari  hes,  relieves  the  four  sides,  and  opens 
magnificent  views  in  cv(^ry  tlirection  as  you  ascend.  At  one  time  a 
re  iud  tower  and  balcony  for  a  nniezzin  disfigured  the  summit,  but  they 
have  ^ow  disapj)cared.  .Standing  on  groimd  352  feet  above  the  sea, 
and  rising  120  foot  highei,  the  gallery  enables  one  to  look  out  from  a 
height  of  nearly  500  feet  on  the  ])anf   ama  around. 

Turning  to  the  north,  the  eye  wandcn?  over  the  cemetery  of  Ramleh, 
with  its  plaster  headstones  aiid  Icwly  riounds,  scattered  without  order, 
and  too  often  in  decay — the  orchards  and  cactus-hedges  beyond,  and 
then  the  town  of  Lydda,  with  its  flat  roofs  in  varied  outline,  and  the 
high  ccmpanile-like  minaret,  with  the  ruined  aisle  of  St.  George's 
Church,  close  by  a  broad  pool.  On  the  further  side,  edged  to  the 
north  with  reeds  and  trees,  there  stretches  out  the  whole  length  of  the 
plain  oi  Sharon,  as  far  as  Carmel,  and,  from  west  to  east,  its  whole 
breadth,  from  the  sea-shore  sand-hills  to  the  mountains  of  Judaia  and 
Samaria.  The  landscape  thu.s  displayed  includes  by  far  the  largest 
sweep  of  open  country  in  Palestine,  reaching  from  the  cliffs  of  Carmel 
to  the  wells  of  Beersheba.  Eolling  u])lands  diversify  the  surface 
throughout:  great  breadths  of  waving  i)asture  or  arable  land  stretch- 
ing between  the  low  heights  which  break  and  beautify  the  whole. 
Perennial  streams  cleave  their  way  to  the  sea;  villages,  always  pictu- 
resque, however  wretched,  rise  on  the  slopes;  in  some  places  there  is 
still  a  sprinkling  of  oak ;  everyvdiere  there  are  ruins.  The  red  or 
black  tilth,  the  green  or  yellow  grain,  the  liglit--brown  uplaids,  tlu; 
tawny  fringe  of  sand  along  the  riiore,  the  blue  sea,  the  purple  moun- 
tains to  the  east,  all  seen  through  the  transparent  air,  make  up  a  scene 
never  to  be  forgotten. 

Such  a  view  as  this  explains  why  the  Jews  could  not  pernnanently 
gain  possession  of  these  rich  lowlands,  but  had  to  content  themselves 
with  the  comparatiA  ely  barren  hills.  The  nations  of  ancient  Palestine 
were  strong  in  iron  chariots ;  the  Jews  were  infantry  soldiers,  without 
horses  till  the  days  of  Solomon.    Jabin,  ths  Canaanite  potentate  in  the 


il 


)  a  gceiie 


FOUNTAIN  ABU  NABP.UT  NEAR  JOPPA. 


ni 


LTDDAH — BAMLBH. 


29 


north  of  the  land,  boasted  of  900  chariots^  in  the  early  days  of  the 
.Judges,  and  centuries  later  the  King  of  Dnmascus  explained  a  defeat 
by  saying  that  the  Hebrew  godu  "are  gods  of  the  mountains,  and 
tiierefore  they  are  stronger  than  we;  but  let  us  figlit  a;j}iiimt  them  in 
the  plains,  and  surely  we  shall  be  stronger  than  they."'-^  Roads  fit  for 
ivheels  are  even  yet  unknown  in  the  old  flewish  territory.  You  can 
only  travel  at  the  rate  of  your  horse's  walk  over  the  stony  tracks 
through  the  hills,  everywhere  in  a  state  of  nature.  It  was  on  a  Roman 
highway  that  the  Ethiopian  eunuch  travelled  to  Gaza,  and  though 
there  were  chariots  of  the  sun  in  Jerusalem  in  the  times  of  the  Hebrew 
kings,  they  were  only  used  for  local  religious  pageants  close  to  the 
city.  Solomon,  indeed,  had  1,400  chariots,  but  they  were,  doubtless, 
more  for  show  than  use,  except  on  the  short  stretches  of  road  he  is  said 
to  have  made  to  some  distance  from  the  capital.  There  was,  in  fact, 
no  plain  on  which  they  could  bo  freely  used,  either  for  war  or  for 
travelling,  except  Esdiaelon,  where  we  find  Jehu  and  Ahab  driving  in 
theirs.^  An  Egyptian  papyrus,  dating  from  the  fourteenth  century 
before  Christ,  that  is,  from  about  the  time  of  Joshua,  gives  an  account 
of  the  journey  of  an  officer  of  the  Pharoah — a  "Mohar" — sent  in  his 
chariot  through  Palestine  upon  official  business.  As  long  as  he  kept 
to  the  plains,  he  tells  us,  he  could  move  freely,  but  when  lie  ascended 
to  the  nills,  the  tracks  were  rocky  and  overgrown  with  prickly  pear, 
trees,  and  bushcjs;  and  disaster  followed  disaster.  His  "limbs  were 
knocked  up,  his  bones  broken,  his  strength  gone,  so  that  for  very 
weariness  he  fell  asleep."  He  had  to  cross  streams  by  difficult  fords; 
to  descend  ravines  "two  thousand  cubits  deep,"  full  of  rocks  and  roll- 
ing stones,  with  no  apparent  passage ;  on  one  side  a  precipice,  on  the 
other  the  mountain.  His  chariot-pole  was  broken,  his  chariot  injured; 
his  horses  refused  to  go,  and  at  last  his  chariot  was  broken  to  j)ieees, 
and  could  only  be  re})aired  by  getting  the  services  of  different  "  work- 
men in  wood,  and  metals,  and  leather."*  Such  as  the  roads  were  then 
they  still  continue,  and  they  must  have  been  the  same,  in  the  hills,  dur- 
ing Bible  times,  for  the  fact  of  Solomon  having  made  travelling  easy, 
by  better  roads,  in  the  vicinity  of  Jerusalem,  would  not  have  been 
mentioned  had  intercommunication  generally  been  even  passably  good.^ 
To  face  the  iron  chariots  of  the  plains  was  impossible  for  the  Ilebrew 
militia.  "The  Lord  was  with  Judah;  and  he  drave  out  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  mountains;  but  could  not  drive  out  the  inhabitants 
of  the  valley  [or  plain]  because  they  had  chariots  of  iron,"^  In 
his  mountain  campaign  at  Ai  and  Gibeon,  Joshua  had  only  footmen  to 
resist.  On  the  plains  of  Merom,  in  the  north,  horses  and  chariots, 
"very  many,"  appeared  for  the  first  time  on  the  scene.     A  sudden 

IJudK.  Iv.  3.  2  1  Kings  XX.  25.  3  1  Kings  xviii.  44;2  Kings  Ix,  16.  i  Records  qf  the  Past,  lU  V»9- 
116.  5  Jos.  Ant.,  vill.  7, 4.  The  roaus  of  .losephus  seem  to  have  been  made  of  basalt,  tte  contrast 
of  which  with  the  white  hills  would  be  striking.    6  Judg.  i.  19;  Josh.  xvli.  16. 


80 


THE  HOLV  LAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


(CHAV. 


surprise,  like  that  of  Deborfth  when  slie  fell  upon  Sisera,  neutralized 
tiiid  advantage  of  the  enemy,  but  it  wan  ordered  tiiat  the  horses  should 
be  houghed  and  the  chariotH  burned,  to  prevent,  in  future,  the  peril  of 
such  a  force  m  iiad  thus  been  so  wonderfully  overcome.  Nor  was  there 
any  desire  for  such  innovations,  for  horses  and  chariots  were  as  useless 
in  the  simple  life  of  the  mountains  as  they  would  be  to-day;  no 
wheeled  vehicle  ever  being  met  with  in  the  hills,  and  horses  only  as 
tliey  pass  with  stray  t'Tivellers  from  town  to  town,  or,  in  numbers, 
from  the  Damascus  liorse-market  to  that  of  Kgypt,  the  caruvan  road 
between  which  two  points,  by  the  way,  passes  through  Rumleh. 


CHAPTER  III. 


THE  PLAIN  OF  SHARON. 


J 


^ 


A  MODERN  paved  road,  in  very  bad  repair,  leads  through  Bamleh, 
from  Joppa  to  Jerusalem,  but  the  ancient  road  between  these  cities  runs 
through  Lydda;  only  a  broad  track,  however,  without  traces  of  anti- 
quities, being  visible  as  you  cross  the  plain.  From  Lydda,  north,  runs 
an  old  Roman  road  through  the  heart  of  the  country ;  a  side  track 
branching  off  to  Ceesarea.  Along  this,  as  has  already  been  said,^  St. 
Paul  probably  travelled,  when  led  to  the  presence  of  Felix,  the  pro- 
curator, or  governor,  of  Judsea.  Following  this  course,  a  short  ride 
brought  me  through  Lydda,  which  you  leave  by  a  Saracenic  bridge 
over  a  wady,  or  water-course,  dry  except  after  heavy  rains.  The 
ground  was  firm,  not  like  the  deep  sand  through  which  one  has  to  pass 
outside  Joppa.  Sharon  spread  in  soft  undulations  far  and  near,  with 
the  low  hills  of  the  Shephelah  on  the  left,  at  a  short  distance;  fertile 
stretches  of  barley  and  wheat  now,  in  spring,  casting  a  shimmer  of 
green  over  the  landscape,  and  alternating  with  breadths  of  what,  in 
England,  would  be  called  pasturage.  Red  and  yellow  flowers — ane- 
mones, tulips,  and  the  narcissus,  among  otlier  blossoms — abounded. 
The  joyful  peasant  maiden  could  say  to-day,  as  of  old,  "I  am  the  rose 
of  Sharon,  and  the  lily  of  the  valleys."  2  What  flowers  were  meant  in 
this  verse  it  is  not  easy  to  tell.  The  Rose  of  Sharon  is  thought  by 
Sir  George  Grove,  I  know  not  why,  to  have  been  the  "  tall  and  graceful 
squill,"^  while  others  have  advocated  the  claims  of  the  cistus,  or  rock 
rose,  but  this  is  found  rather  in  the  hills  than  on  the  plains.  The  rose, 
indeed,  is  not  mentioned  till  the  date  of  the  Apocryphal  books,  having 

1  See  mUe,  p.  32.    2  Cant.  ii.  1.    3  Diet,  qf  Bible:  art.  "Sbaroa." 


nil 


THE   PLAIN  OF  SHARON. 


81 


been  brought  from  Persia  late  in  JowiHh  liistory.*  Tristram  and 
Houghton'^  think  it  was  the  narcissus,  a  bulb  of  which  Orientals  are 
passionately  fond. '  While  it  is  in  flower  it  is  sold  everywhere  in  tiie 
streets,  and  may  be  seen  in  the  hands  of  very  many,  both  men  and 
women,  who  carry  it  about  to  enjoy  its  perfume.  Dr.  Thomson  thinks 
a  beautiful  variety  of  the  marsh  mallow,  which  grows  into  a  stout  bush 
and  bears  thousands  of  beautiful  flowers,  is  the  "  lily  "  of  Scripture. 
It  certainly  is  found  often  among  thorns,  and  abounds  on  Sharon,  so 
tliat  it  would,  at  least  in  this,  suit  the  comparison  tliat  follows  the 
mention  of  the  Rose  of  Sharon — "  As  the  lily  among  thorns,  so  is  my 
love  among  the  daughters.''*  But  it  hardly  meets  the  conditions 
implied  in  other  texts,  for  it  is  cotnj)ared  with  the  lips  of  the  Beloved, 
ana  therefore,  it  is  to  bo  jiresumed,  was  red."^  It  grew  quickly,  and 
from  the  locality  in  which  our  Lord  contrasted  its  "glory"  with  that 
of  Solomon,  it  sliould  be  found  abundantly  in  Galilee.  The  species 
mentioned  by  Dr.  Thomson,  however,  tiiough  very  beautiful,  is  dark 
purple  and  white  in  its  flower,  nor,  indeed,  is  it  a  lily  at  all,  but  an  iris. 
There  are,  in  fact,  few  true  lilies  in  Palestine,  nor  is  it  necessary  to 
suppose  that  a  true  lily  was  intended,  for  the  name  Shusan — translated 
"  lily  "  in  Scripture — is  n.sed  to  this  day  of  any  bright-colored  flower 
at  all  like  the  lily :  such,  for  e.\nmi)le,  as  the  tulip,  anemone,  or  ranun- 
culus. Dr.  Tristram,  therefore,  fixes  on  the  scarlet  anemone,  which 
colors  the  ground  all  over  ]*ale»tine  in  spring,  as  the  flower  intended, 
especially  as  the  name  Shusan  is  applied  to  it  among  others.*  Captain 
Conder  thinks  the  blue  iris  is  meant,  while  the  large  yellow  water-lily 
of  the  Iluleh  is  mentioned  by  Dean  Stanley,  only  to  be  set  asid^.^ 
But  whatever  the  case  with  the  lily,  there  seems  no  likelihood  of  agree- 
ment as  to  the  "  Rose  of  Sharon."  The  Hebrew  word  translated  "  rose" 
comes  from  two  roots,  meaning  "sour"  and  "bulb,"  and  is  used  also, 
in  the  ancient  Syriac  version,  for  an  autumnal  flower  springing  from  a 
poisonous  bulb,  and  of  a  white  and  violet  color;  perhaps  the  meadow 
saffron.*  On  the  other  hand,  the  old  Jewish  commentai  \^,.  translate  the 
word  by  "the  narcissus,"  which  is  not  only  of  the  lily  tribe,  but  very 
common,  as  we  have  seen,  in  spring,  on  the  plain  of  Sharon.  Roses 
are  not  found  in  Palestine,  though  they  flourish  on  the  cool  heights  of 
Hermon,  6,000  feet  above  the  sea.  It  is  not  without  weight,  moreover, 
that  the  word  used  for  "rose"  in  Scripture  is  still  used  by  the  peasan- 
try, with  slight  variation,  for  the  narcissus.^ 

As  we  rode  on,  many  peasants  were  ploughing,  with  the  plough  in 
one  hand,  and  in  the  other  a  long  wooden  goad,  the  sharp  iron  point 
of  which  was  used  to  urge  forward  the  lean,  small  oxen.     It  was  no 

I  licclus.xxlv.  14;  xxxlx.l8;l,  8.  2  Did. qf  Bible:  art.  "Hose."  9  Nat.  Hist,  of  Bible,  p.  m.  4 
Cant.  il.  2.  5  Cant.  v.  13;  Hos.  xlv.  5.  6  Tristram,  Nat.  Hist.  o/Bilde,  p.  464;  So,  Van  Lennep,  Bible 
Lands,  p.  166.  7  Sinai  and  Palestine  p.  422.  8  Gesenius,  Zu  Jes,  xxxv.  1.  The  roots  given  In  the 
text  appear  in  the  last  edition  of  Gesenius's  Lexicon.  Capt.  Conder  gives  another,  out  it  Is  the 
root  of  only  half  of  the  word.  9  See  Capt.  Conder  Pal.  Fund  S^.,  1878,  p.  40. 


82 


THE   HOLY  LAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


[Chap. 


use  for  tliem  to  kick  against  it  •}  their  only  safety  was  to  hurry  on. 
'rhe  plough  used  was  so  light  that  it  could  be  carried  on  the  shoulder ; 
indeed,  asses  passed  carrying  two  ploughs  and  much  besides.  A  rough 
upright  of  wood,  with  a  second  piece  fixed  horizontally  at  the  bottom, 
to  hold  the  flat  spear-head-like  coulter,  formed  the  wiiole  implement, 
which  could  only  make  furrows  a  few  inches  deej).  Ravens  and  wild 
doves  flew  hither  and  thither.  Herds  of  slieep  were  feeding  on  the 
thin  pasture,  but  cattle  were  rare.  The  sheep  had  great  broad  tails, 
and  thus  seemed  to  be  the  same  breed  as  that  reared  by  the  ancient 
Jews,  for  we  read  that  the  tail  of  tiieir  variety  was  burned  by  the 
priests  on  the  altar,  in  thank-offerings.  ''  The  whole  rump  [or  tail] 
shall  be  taken  oflf,  hard  by  the  backbone,  and  the  priests  shall  burn  it 
upon  the  altar."^  On  the  roofs  of  many  of  the  mud  houses  grass  had 
sprung  up  plentifully,  thanks  to  the  winter  rain,  but  in  the  increasing 
heat  it  was  doomed  to  "  whither  before  it  grew  up."^  On  every  side 
the  landscape  was  delightful.  "The  winter  was  past,  the  rainoverand 
gone ;  the  flowers  were  appearing  on  the  earth  ;  the  time  of  the  sing- 
ing of  birds  had  come,  and  the  voice  of  the  turtle  was  heard  in  the 
land;  the  fig-tree  was  putting  forth  her  green  figs,  and  the  vines,  now 
in  bloom,  gave  a  good  smell."^  Not  that  song-birds  were  to  be  heard, 
except  the  lark;  there  was  not  enough  woodland  for  them;  nor  that 
the  turtle  was  to  be  heard  on  tlie  plain,  or  the  fragrance  of  vineyards 
inhaled.  These  were  the  attractions  of  rare  and  isolated  spots,  beside 
the  villages,  on  the  hill-slopes.  The  plain  itself  is  silent,  and  shows 
very  little  life  of  any  kind. 

Tibneh,  perhaps  the  burial-place  of  Joshua,  lies  among  the  moun- 
tains north-east  of  Lydda,  and  as  I  could  never  be  nearer  to  it,  the 
heads  of  our  horses  had  been  turned  in  its  direction.  At  three  miles 
from  Lydda  we  reached  the  hills,  the  village  of  Beit  Nebala,  probably 
the  Neballat  of  Nehemiah,^  l.ving  at  the  foot  of  slopes  surrounded  by 
wide  stretches  of  olive-trees.  The  sea,  thirteen  miles  due  east,  was 
only  250  feet  below  us,  so  slowly  does  the  land  rise  thus  far.  Small 
valleys,  each  a  water-cour.se  after  rains,  converged  in  all  directions  on 
Beit  Nebala,  and  a  mile  from  it  we  passed  an  underground  cistern. 
Two  miles  farther,  still  ascending  between  hill-sides  beautiful  with 
olives,  we  passed  Kibbieh,  a  very  small  liamlet,  840  feet  above  the  sea, 
perhaps  the  si^e  of  Gibbethon  of  Dan.  Still  rising,  the  roads  turns  to 
the  south-east,  at  the  small  village  of  Shukba,  but,  after  about  a  mile, 
mounts  again,  up  Wady  Ortabbah,  amidst  thousands  of  olive  and  other 
fruit-trees  on  every  slope,  but.  especially  on  those  towards  the  south- 
east. 

About  five  miles  nearly  south  of  Shukba,  across  hills  rich  in  olives, 

1  Acts  xxvl.  li.   2  Lev.  lii.  9, 11.  3  Fs.  cxxix  6 ;  2  Kings  xix.  26 ;  I«a.  xzxvii.  27.   4  Cant.  li.  11-13. 
(  Neh.  xi.  31. 


fCHAP. 


moun- 
it,  the 
)  miles 
"obfibly 
ded  by 
ist,  was 
Small 


Church  of  ijt   Qeorge  in  Lydda.    (See  page  ii6.) 


olives, 

U.  U-13, 


Ill] 


THE   PLAIN   OF  SHARON. 


33 


we  pass  the  village  of  Midieh,  famous  in  its  da}',  for  it  seems  beyond 
question  to  stand  on  the  site  of  tlie  ancient  Modin,^  the  birtli-place  of 
the  illustrious  brotherhood  of  Maccabees,  and  the  place  where  they 
were  buried.  Soba,  a  village  lying  on  a  lofty  conical  hill,  west  of 
Jerusalem,  twenty -five  miles  from  the  sea,  and  more  than  fifteen  from 
Lydda,  was  at  one  time  supposed  to  be  entitled  to  this  double  honor; 
but  it  meets  none  of  the  requirements  of  the  known  position  of  Modin, 
whicli  may  be  said  also  of  Latrun,  on  the  road  from  Kamleii  to  Jeru- 
salem, a  village  thought  at  a  later  time  to  have  been  the  Maccabaean 
cradle.2  So  long  ago  as  the  fifteenth  century,  indeed,  it  was  accepted 
as  the  "Town  of  the  Maccabees"  by  the  Christian  pilgrims  to  Jerusa- 
lem, and  a  "  Church  of  the  Maccabsean  Brothers  "  was  built  near  it  even 
earlier.  In  the  year  1866,  however,  a  German  traveller  proposed  the 
small  mountain  village  of  Midieh  as  the  true  site,  and  its  claims  have 
been  very  generally  recognized  from  that  time.  It  lies  six  miles  east 
of  Lydda,  on  the  top  of  a  hill,  separated  from  the  hills  around,  on  three 
sides,  by  valleys.  Some  mud  and  stone  houses,  with  a  population  of 
about  150  persons  in  all;  their  water  supplied  by  rain  cisterns ;  a 
small  olive-grove  below  the  village,  on  the  north  ;  a  high  conical  knoll 
swelling  up  from  the  top  of  the  hill,  with  traces  of  ruins,  and  a  small 
Mahommedan  shrine,  with  a  few  trees  round  it;  the  sides  of  the  knoll 
sloping  as  if  artificially  cut,  and  showing  some  rock-hewn  tombs ;  a 
rain-tank  farther  down  the  slope,  with  cisterns  above  it,  make  up  the 
pk  iC.  On  a  height  over  against  it  lie  three  mounds  of  ruins  and  a 
number  of  tombs,  but  these  do  not  correspond  to  the  requirements  of 
the  Maccaba3an  sepulchre.  Guerin,  however,  found  ruins  which  appear 
to  be  those  of  the  famous  burial-place,  on  the  top  of  a  hill  close  to  the 
village,  on  the  north  side.  Kising  more  than  700  feet  above  the  plain 
below,  the  hill  comm  nds  a  view  of  the  sea,  which  is  one  condition 
required  of  the  true  site.  ^  The  foundation  walls  of  a  great  rectangular 
building  were,  moreover,  discovered  by  digging,  with  cells  for  burial 
inside,  hewn  in  the  native  rock ;  some  bones  being  found  in  them  !  A 
German  architect,  Mauss,  has  even  made  out  the  burial-spaces  in  these 
tombs  as  exactl}*  seven,  the  number  in  the  Maccabaean  sepulchre. 
Sockets  hewn  in  the  rock  show,  still  further,  the  spots  on  which  pyra- 
mids connected  with  the  original  structure,  mentioned  in  the  First 
Book  of  the  Maccabees,  rested,  and  there  are  even  fragments  of  them 
lying  round. 

This,  then,  apparently  beyond  question,  is  the  spot  on  which  Simon, 
the  last  survivor  of  tlie  glorious  brotherhood,  raised  a  grand  tomb 
over  the  bodies  of  his  father,  mother,  and  four  brothel^,  reserving  a 
space  in  it  for  himself — the  seventh.    A  pyramid  richly  carved  was 

1  Schenkel,  Bib.  Lex.,  Iv.  233  ;  Blelini,  p.  1019  ;  1  Mace.  ii.  1.  2  Or.  Porter  in  Kitto's  Oydop.  Bib. 
Lit. :  art.  "  Modin."  Land  and  Book,  p.  635.  Rol)ioSoni  JW,,  iU>  80,  tbinHs  tbat  lAtruQ  may  poesl- 
bly  l>e  Modm.   8  1  Maco,  lUii,  29. 


t 


I 


84 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  THE   BIBLE. 


[Chap. 


raised  for  each  of  them,  on  an  under-structure  of  squared  polished 
stone;  other  great  obelisks,  covered  with  carved  emblems  of  the  naval 
and  military  triumplis  of  the  family,  adorning  the  whole  above.^ 
Never  heroes  deserved  more  truly  a  grand  memorial.  Their  story  still 
thrills  the  heart,  for  valor  and  genius  mu«t  ever  command  the  homage 
of  mankind. 

The  olive-groves  on  the  way  to  Tibneh  must  be  favorite  haunts  of 
the  turtle-dove,  which  comes  with  the  spring,^  but  had  not  reached 
Palestine  when  I  was  in  this  neigliborhood.  Later  on,  they  are  found 
everywhere,  and  pour  out  their  plaintive  cooings  in  every  garden, 
grove,  and  wooded  hill,  from  sunrise  to  sunset;  the  time  of  their  arri- 
val being  so  regular  that  the  prophet  could  speak  of  iv  m^  known  to 
everyone.^  The  turtle-dove  is  more  numerous  in  the  Holy  Lrnd  than 
anywhere  else,  and  thus,  as  well  as  the  "  dove,"  naturally  became  a 
source  of  Scripture  metaphor.  It  is  mentioned  more  than  fifty  times 
in  the  Bible.  Alone  among  birds  it  could  be  offered  on  tlie  altar.* 
Two  turtle-doves,  or  two  young  pigeons,  were  enjoined  as  the  offering 
at  the  purification  of  the  leper,  and  they  were  accepted  by  the  law, 
from  the  poor,  as  a  burnt- offering,  or  sin-offering,  in  other  cases.  The 
Nazarite  who  had  accidentally  defiled  himself  was  to  be  thus  purified, 
and  so  also  were  women  after  the  birth  of  a  child^  if  they  could  not 
give  anything  more  costly.  The  offering  of  the  Virgin  in  the  Temple, 
after  the  birth  of  our  Lord,  was  on  this  ground  mentioned  by  the 
Evangelist,  as  a  sign  of  her  poverty.^  A  turtle-dove  and  a  young 
pigeon  were  among  the  offerings  in  the  sacrifices  of  Abraham  f  so 
early  had  these  birds  been  accepted  as  a  symbol  of  purity.  "  Turtle- 
dove "  was,  indeed,  a  term  of  endearment,  as  when  David  cries  to  God, 
"O  deliver  not  the  soul  of  thy  turtle-dove  unto  the  multitude  of  the 
wicked."*  Many  of  the  passages,  however,  usually  supposed  to  refer 
to  the  turtle-dove,  are  rather  to  be  applied  to  doves  or  pigeons  at  large. 
I  have  quoted  all  the  texts  specially  naming  it-  elsewhere  "doves" 
includes  the  many  varieties  of  pigeon  found  in  Palestine,  especially  the 
comrjon  pigeons  of  the  towns  or  villages,  which,  like  all  their  kind, 
except  the  turtle-dove,  never  migrate.  Every  house,  except  perhaps 
the  very  poorest,  has  its  pigeons.  A  detached  dovecot  of  mud  or 
brick,  roofed  over,  with  wide-mouthed  earthen  pots  inside,  as  nesting- 
boxes,  is  a  special  mark  of  wealth ;  but  even  the  humble  peasant  has 
one  on  a  small  scale,  in  his  little  yard,  or  even  in  his  house,  against 
the  inner  wall ;    the  birds  flying  out  and  in  through  the  house-door. 

1  1  Mace.  xlll.  27—30.  Gu6rln,  Descr.  de  la  PcJestine:  Samarie,  11. 55—64,  404—426.  The  Identlfica- 
tlun  Is  questioned  by  the  Palestine  Surveyors,  who  think  the  monument  is  Christian,  dating  from 
the  fourth  or  fifth  century.  2  Cant.  11.  11,  12.  3  Jer.  vlll.  7.  4  Lev.  1. 14;  xv.  14, 29:  xlv.  22: 
Num.  vi.  10.  5  Lev.  v.  7;  xli.  8.  6  Luke  ii.  24.  7  Gen.  xv.  9.  There  are  two  words  in  the  Old 
Testament  for  these  birds  :  one  "  tor,"  for  the  turtle-dove ;  the  other,  "  lonab,"  for  all  Uie  VWlO* 
ties  of  pigeon  wblcb  are  spoken  of  as  suob,  ox  as  "  doves."  8  Fs.  luiv.  i9> 


■fM 


CChap. 


nij 


THE   PLAIN  OF  SHARON. 


86 


rn  '^    so 


entiflca- 

ing  from 

xlv.  22: 

tbeOld 


It  was  natural,  therefore,  for  our  Lord,  amidst  such  familiarity  with 
birds  so  guileless,  to  warn  His  apostles  to  be  "harmless  as  dovea."^ 

Such  an  allusion  vividly  reminds  us  of  one  great  characteristic  of 
the  Bible.  It  is  not  the  production  of  cloistered  ascetics,  but  breathes 
in  every  page  a  joyous  or  meditative  intercourse  with  nature  and  man- 
kind. The  fields,  the  hills,  the  highway,  the  valleys,  the  varying 
details  of  country  scenes  and  occupations,  are  interspersed  among  pic- 
tures of  life  from  the  crowded  haunts  of  men.  The  sowei'  and  the 
seed;  the  birds  of  ti)e  air;  the  foxes;  the  hen  and  its  brood;  the  lilies 
and  roses;  the  voice  of  the  turtle;  the  fragrance  of  the  orchard  ;  the 
blossom  of  the  almond  or  vine;  the  swift  deer;  the  strong  eagle;  the 
twittering  sparrow ;  the  lonely  pelican ;  the  stork  returning  with 
spring;  planting,  pruning,  dierging,  and  harvesting;  the  hiring  of 
laborers ;  the  toil  of  the  fishenijan ;  the  playing  of  children ;  the  sound 
of  the  mill;  the  lord  and  his  servants  ;  the  merchantman;  the  courtier 
in  silken  robes ;  and  a  thousand  other  notices  of  life  and  nature,  util- 
ized to  teach  the  highest  lessons,  give  the  sacred  writings  a  perennial 
freshness  and  uuiversal  interest. 

The  ruins  of  Tibneh  cover  the  slopes  and  crest  of  a  hill  surrounded 
on  the  north  and  east  by  a  deep  ravine.  On  the  south  the  hill  sinks, 
in  terraces,  to  a  valley  formerly  covered  in  part  with  houses,  and 
marked  by  a  magnificent  evergreen  oak,  one  of  the  finest  in  Palestine. 
Following  this  valley,  the  last  slopes  of  a  hill  facing  Tibneh  are  before 
us ;  their  rocky  sides  revealing  several  tombs,  the  remains  of  an 
ancient  necropolis.  On  the  top  of  the  height  is  a  small  Mussulman 
village,  with  several  ancient  cisterns,  and  a  number  of  finely-cut  stones 
of  ancient  masonry,  built  into  the  modern  houses. 

The  tombs  have  been  hewn  out,  at  different  levels,  on  the  north 
slopes  of  the  hill,  eight  being  more  noticeable  than  the  rest.  One, 
however,  is  much  the  most  remarkable.  Its  oblong  vestibule,  cut  in 
the  rock,  is  supported  by  four  pillars :  two,  at  the  side,  half  separated  from 
the  hill;  the  ethers,  in  the  centre,  entirely  so.  They  have  no  capitals, 
and  are  ornamented  at  their  tops  only  by  a  few  simple  mouldings.  Imme- 
diately behind  them,  the  face  of  the  rock,  forming  the  front  wall  of 
the  tomb,  is  pierced  by  no  fewer  than  288  small  openings,  in  eight 
rows ;  some  square,  others  triangular,  but  most  half-circles,  made  in 
former  days  as  recesses  in  which  to  place  a  burning  lamp,  in  honor  of 
the  illustrious  dead.  At  the  right  of  this  frontage  of  rock  is  the  low 
and  narrow  entrance  to  the  tomb,  leading  into  a  chamber,  in  the  walls 
of  which  are  fourteen  excavatiors  for  as  many  occupants.  On  the 
south,  facing  the  door,  a  broader  entrance,  cut  t'lrough  the  rock,  leads 
to  the  innermost  chamber — the  place  of  honor — and  in  this  there  is 
only  a  hollow  for  one  corpse.  It  must  have,  been  the  last  resting- 
1  Matt.  X.  16.   "  Guileless,"  as  opposed  to  the  serpent,  is  rather  the  meaDing. 


36 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


[CHAP. 


' 


place  of  the  chief  of  the  pale  assembler  here  gathered  in  their  last 
home ;  the  outer  graves  being  t'^ose  of  his  family. 

Such  a  tomb  .must  evidently  have  been  designed  for  a  very  illustri- 
ous personage:"  the  niches  for  lamps  outside  show,  moreover,  that  it 
was  recognized  as  such  by  long-past  generations.  "  No  one,"  writes 
Gudrin,  "  who  was  not  an  object  of  public  veneration  can  be  fancied 
as  held  in  so  much  honor,  and  who  could  this  be  but  Joshua,  at  what 
is,  seem'ngly,  beyond  doubt,  Timnath-Serah  ?"i 

The  tomb  shows  marks  of  the  highest  antiquity,  for  it  is  similar  to 
those  made  by  the  Canaanites  before  the  arrival  of  the  Hebrews  in 
their  countr3^  Still  more,  the  Abbe  Richard  states  that  in  1870  he 
found  in  the  soil  of  its  different  sepulchral  chambers  numbers  of  flint 
knives,  in  agreement  with  the  record  that  those  used  at  the  first  cir- 
cumcision at  Gilgal  were  buried  with  Joshua.^ 

The  identification  of  this  spot  with  the  tomb  of  Joshua  is  however 
disputed  by  Captain  Conder,  of  the  Palestine  Survey,*  who  regards 
the  village  of  Kefr  Hurls,  nine  miles  from  Nablus,  as  the  true  site. 
We  shall  visit  it  at  a  later  period,  and  leave  its  description  till  then. 
But  it  is  at  least  striking  to  find  that,  besides  the  similarity  of 
"  Tibneh  "  and  "  Timnath,"  there  is  a  village,  about  three  miles  to  the 
east,  called  Kefr  Ishua — Joshua's  village — while  a  great  oak-tree,  near 
the  tomb,  is  called  Sheikh  et  Teim — "the  Chief  [who  was]  the  Serv- 
ant of  God." 

That  a  solitary  tree,  of  a  height  so  moderate  to  Western  notions  as 
forty  feet,  should  be  thus  famous  is  due,  apart  from  local  traditions,  to 
the  entire  absence  of  lofty  trees  in  Western  Palestine.  The  country 
may  once  have  been  wooded,  as  the  region  beyond  the  Jordan  now  is, 
but,  if  so,  its  glory  has  long  departed.  The  present  comparatively 
waterless  condition  of  the  land  marked  it  ages  ago,  for  even  before 
the  invasion  of  the  Hebrews  wells  and  underground  cisterns  are  both 
mentioned.  The  latter,  indeed,  are  spoken  of  more  than  sixty  times 
in  the  Old  Testament,  and  we  meet  with  the  word  for  a  "  well "  twenty- 
five  times  in  the  Pentateuch.  Of  the  two  words,  on  the  other  hand, 
used  for  "  woods,"  the  one  much  the  more  frequently  found  means, 
rather,  the  low  thorny  brushwood  or  scrub  which  covers  many  rooky 
and  barren  spots  in  tte  uplands  of  Palestine,  known  in  Bible  times  as 
the  "yaar."  Such  places  are  still  called  "  waar "  by  the  peasantry ; 
the  old  name  thus  remaining  almost  unchanged.  A  traveller  wishing 
to  take  a  course  which  would  lead  him  into  ground  so  difficult,  is 
warned  from  attempting  it  by  the  assurance  that"  waar"  is  before  him, 

1  Josh,  xxxiv.26.  M.  Uu6rin  goes  into  details  of  the  id<>ntiflcation.  2  Sept.  Josh.  xxi.  42;  xxiv 
a).  Gu6i  In,  Deser.  de  la  Palestine :  Samarie,  11.  100—102.  Riehm,  Bib.  Lex. :  art.  "  Tibneh."  A  high 
authority  who  disputes  Gu6rln's  conclusions,  writes:— "The  oldest  Jewish  tombs  have  no 
perches  like  that  of  Tibneh.  It  probably  dates  about  the  second  century  b.  c.  Of  Ganaanite 
tombs  nothing  is  known.  There  is  reason  to  suppose  Canaanites  did  not  bury,  but  burned  their 
dead."  3  I>(ii.Fund£eportt,im,p.Zi. 


view  finnn  a  vrlnudw^  of  the  tower  of  Ramleh  towards  the  East  (See  page  S8.) 


nij 


THE  PLAIN  OP  SHARON". 


87 


and  happy  is  he  if  he  accept  the  warning  and  avoid  the  tangle  o*' 
gnarled  uc'ergrowth,  often  armed  with  spines  or  prickles,  and  mad- 
more  foimidable  by  the  chaos  of  loose  rocks  and  stones  amidst  whivh 
it  giows.     It  was  in  •.  "  vaar"  that  Jonathan  found  the  wild  honey  ' 
jozin;^  from  some  rocky  cleft  v;here  the  bees  had  stored  it,*  for  the  dry 
receases  of  the  lime-stone  rocks  of  Palestine  everywhere  oft'er  fitting 
places  for  laying  up  tlie  comb.    The  battle  in  which  Absalom  was 
<  verl  jrown  took   place  in  the  "yaar"  of  Ephraim,'*  and  it  is  not  diffi- 
cult to  imagine  how,  in  such  a  stony,  thorny  labyrinth  as  a  "yaar  "pre- 
sents, "the  wood  devoured  more  people  that  day  than  the  sword."' 
True,  there  was  at  least  one  tree  high  enough  to  catch  the  hair  of  the 
false-hearted  prince  as  he  rode  under  it  on  his  mule,  but  it  is  spoken 
of,  each  time  it  is  mentioned,  as  "  the  "  oak,       ''^it  alone  rose  above 
the  stunted  jungle  around.     God  threatens  to  Ti.ik     he  vineyards  and 
fig  orchards  of  apostate  Israel  irto  a  "yaar'  '  an^     ^icah  fortells  that 
"Jerusalem  shall  become  heaps,  and  tne  nsou  .^ain  of  the  house  [of 
God]  as  the  hilly  yaar"**  — a  tangle  of  wilUoii^p    brakes. 

Still,  roots  of  trees  which  must  have  been  of  u,  goodly  size  are  found, 
here  and  there,  even  in  such  stony,  stuntr  br^sh- forests,  useful  now 
only  for  charcoal-burning.  But  I  questic^x  .f  ever  there  was  much 
forest,  in  our  sense,  west  of  the  Jordan  since  the  historical  period. 
The  other  word  translated  "wood"  in  Scripture^  does  not  help  us, 
for  it  comes  from  a  root  which  may  refer  either  to  cutting  down,  or  to 
being  entangled  or  interwoven,  which  suits  a  thicket  rather  than  an 
open  forest.  It  is  noteworthy  that  no  trees  are  spoken  of  as  obtained 
by  Solomon  from  Palestine,  but  that  cedar  and  cypress  from  Lebanon, 
and  sandal-wood  from  the  East,  weYe  imported  from  Phoenicia,  or  by 
its  help.'^  In  any  case,  the  crowded  population  of  Israel,  hemmed  up 
in  the  narrow  limits  of  the  hills,  soon  cleared  away  whatever  wood 
there  was,  leaving  the  slopes  free  for  the  terrace  cultivation  necessary 
under  their  circumstances. 

A  Roman  road  by  which  possibly  St.  Paul  was  taken  to  Antipatris, 
on  his  way  to  Caesarea,  runs  through  Tibneh,  and  offers  the  easiest 
route  to  Sharon,  though  it  is  rough  enough  in  its  present  condition. 
Olives  :ind  fir-trees  dot  the  slopes  on  the  way  to  Abud,  a  village  1,240 
feet  above  the  sea ;  but  the  route  grows  more  wild  and  desolate  as  you 
advance.  In  six  miles  the  descent  is  above  700  feet,  through  a  region 
now  very  lonely,  but  marked  from  point  to  point  with  the  ruins  of 
ancient  towns  or  villages.  It  was  wcill  to  have  even  the  rough  track 
of  the  old  road,  for  the  wady  north  of  as  has  only  a  footpath  by  which 
to  descend  a  depth  of  1,000  feet.  As  we  emerged  on  the  plain,  the 
mud  village  of  El-Yehudiyeh — perhaps  Jehud  of  Dan* — with  a  rain- 

1 1  Sam.  xlv.  26—27.  2  Deut.  xxxll.  13;  Ps.  Ixxxl.  16.  3  2  Sam.  xvili.  6, 8.  (East  of  Jordan.)  4  Hosea 
ii.  12.   5  Micah  ill.  12;  Jer.  zxvl.  18.  6  " HOiesh."  7 1  Kings  v.  16;  2  Ohron.  11. 8-18.  8  Josh.  xix.  4& 


88 


THE   HOLY   LAND   AND  THE   HIBLE. 


[Chap. 


pond  and  a  few  ptvlm-trees,  lay  to  tlie  soutli.  Wore  liouses  built  of  as 
perishable  materials,  and  as  meanly,  in  ancient  times  in  Palestine? 
The  Jews  had  learned  sun-briek-making  in  Egypt,  and  would  naturally 
follow  in  their  new  country  the  modes  familiar  to  them  on  the  Nile. 
Damascus  is,  even  now,  mainly  built  of  sun-dried  brick,  made  with 
chopped  straw,  which  reminds  one  of  the  brickfields  of  Egypt.  Wood 
is  used  along  with  this  humble  material,  but  stone  very  rarely.  Per- 
haps ancient  Jewish  towns  and  villages,  in  the  same  way,  may  have 
had  more  wood  used  in  their  construction  than  would  be  possible  at 
present,  when  building-timber  is  practically  unknown  in  the  country; 
but  neither  wood  nor  mud  bricks  have  elements  of  permanence.  The 
"tells,"  or  mounds,  which  mark  the  site  of  old  Jewish  communities, 
have,  moreover,  })recisely  the  aj)pearance  of  similar  mounds  now  form- 
ing around,  or,  one  might  say,  beneath,  existing  mud-brick  villages  in 
India  and  Egypt.  The  constant  decay  of  the  frail  cubes  and  the  pul- 
verizing of  those  spoilt  in  the  making,  gradually,  in  the  lapse  of  gener- 
ati(  MS  raise  the  whole  site  of  the  place  so  much  that,  if  abandoned,  it 
would  very  soon  be  the  counterpart  of  the  "tells"  of  the  Palestine 
lowlands.  It  is  striking  to  notice  that  such  mementos  of  long-vanished 
hamlets,  villages,  or  towns,  occur  invariably  near  some  spring  or  run- 
ning water,  or  where  wells  are  easily  sunk,  and  also  on  [)lains  where 
clay  '  "jund,  or  alluvial  earth.  In  digging  into  them,  moreover,  they 
arc  found  to  consist  of  sun-dried  bi-icks.  It  is  })rol)abje,  therefore,  that 
the  Hebrews,  on  taking  possession  of  the  country,  were  glad  to  build 
towns  and  villages  of  the  material  at  once  cheapest  and  most  easily 
obtained,  in  the  place  of  some  of  the  towns  and  hamlets  of  the  Canaanites 
which  had  been  utterly  destroyed;  but  it  is  quite  as  likely  that  the 
Canaanites  themselves,  as  a  rule,  lived  in  houses  of  sun-dried  bricks, 
since  we  find  "tells"  spoken  of  in  Joshua,  if  Captain  Condor's  transla- 
tion be  correct.^ 

Sun-dried  bricks  are  made  in  the  spring,  by  mixing  cho{)ped  straw 
v.'ith  wet  mud  or  clay.  This  com})ound  is  tlien  put  into  rude  frames, 
about  ten  inches  broad  and  three  inches  across,  which,  when  filled,  are 
left  in  the  sun  to  dry.  Houses  of  such  materials  need  to  be  often 
repaired.  The  walls  crumble,  and  the  roofs,  which  are  only  layers  of 
mud  over  a  framework  of  brush,  thorns,  or  reeds,  supported  by  a 
crooked  beam  or  two,  leak  badly.  A  stone  roller  is,  therefore,  con- 
stantly brought  into  requisition  to  close  any  crack  or  fill  up  any  hole. 
If  neglected  for  a  single  winter  the  roof  would  be  full  ()f  holes  before 
spring,  and  then  the  unprotected  walls,  soaked  with  the  rain,  would 
bulge  out  and  fall  into  ruin.  As  in  the  days  of  Ecclesiastes,  "By 
slothrnlnoss  the  roof  sinketh  in;    and  through  idleness  of  the  hands 

1  The  word  is  "Uelilotli."    n  (xunirs  in  .losliua  xiii.  2;  xxii.  10,  11.    But  I  cannot  trace  the 
grounds ou  wliich  the  tianslatio^i  "tells"  is  based. 


nil 


THE    PLAIN   OF   SIIAUON. 


89 


the  liouse  leaketh."  ^  There  is  no  mortar  of  any  kind  to  give  strength, 
so  that  the  only  safety  is  in  keeping  the  building  water-tight  by  con- 
tinual oversight.  Ezekiel  must  often  have  seen  similar  houses  sunk 
into  shapeless  lieaps  for  want  of  this  precaution,  for  a  single  heavy 
rain-storm  nuiy  beat  them  down,  and  nonce  he  cries  out,  "  Say  unto 
tliem  who  'daub  it  with  untempered  mortar,  that  it  sliall  fall.  There 
shall  be  an  overflowing  shower,  and  ye,  O  great  hail-stones,  shall  come 
down,  and  a  stormy  wind  sliall  rend  it."^ 

A  rain-soaked  roof  is  only  too  well  known  in  Palestine,  and  has 
given  rise  to  more  tha:*  one  })rovcrb  of  great  antiquity.  "A  continual 
dropping  in  a  very  rainy  day  and  a  contentious  woman,"  the  Book  ol 
Proverbs  tells  ur,  "are  alike." ^  In  my  own  case,  at  Tiberias,  the 
rain  fell  through  the  tent  on  me  in  great  dr()])8;  there  was  no  protec- 
tion from  it.  Best  was  impossible;  the  annoyance  made  the  whole 
night  miserable.  Could  there  be  a  better  comparison  for  a  brawling 
woman  than  this  per[)etuai  splash,  splash,  when  one  wished  above  all 
things  to  be  quiet?  "  He  Cat  would  hold  her  in,"  continues  the  text, 
"tries  to  hold  in  the  wind,"  an  impossible  task  in  the  draughty  houses 
of  the  East,  whatever  one  may  do  to  shut  it  out.  Or  we  may  render 
the  words,  "which  it  is  idle  to  hope  one  can  close  up  in  his  hand,"  for 
she  is  like  "one  whose  right  hand  seizes  soft  fat,  which  slips  through 
his  fingers."* 

The  language  of  Proverbs,  and  the  mention  of  "houses  of  clay"  by 
.Job,  show  how  old  mud-brick  dwellings  are  in  Palestine.  Other 
Scriptural  allusions  refer  to  a  further  evil  too  often  connected  with 
them.  Ezekiel  dug  a  hole  through  the  soft  wall  of  his  house  as  a  sign 
to  the  people,  and  carried  out  through  it  the  bundle  he  was  to  take 
with  him  in  his  symbolic  pilgrimage,^  and  this  easy  excavation 
through  the  side  of  a  dwelling-place  is  often  taken  advantage  of  by 
thieves,  who  "in  the  dark,  dig  through  houses,  and  steal."® 

The  site  of  AntipatMs,  after  long  misconception,  has,  within  the  last 
few  years,  been  defin'lely  fixed  at  Kas-el-Ain,  on  the  great  Roman 
rJkd  which  once  stretched  from  Csesarea  to  Jerusalem.  It  was  for- 
merly identified  with  the  village  of  Kefr  Saba,  some  miles  farther 
north,  on  the  plain,  but  a  careful  measurement  of  the  known  distance 
of  Antipatris  from  various  points  has  shown  that  a  mistake  had  been 
made  in  the  identification,  and  that  the  exact  fulfilment  by  Ras-el-Ain 
of  all  the  requirements  leaves  no  question  as  to  its  superior  and,  indeed, 
incontestable  claims.  "We  know,  for  example,  that  Antipatris,  apart 
from  the  question  of  its  distance  from  various  places,  was  on  the 
Roman  road,  was  surrounded  by  a  river,  and  lay  close  to  a  hilly  ridge; 
but  this  is  not  the  case  with  Kefr  Saba.    No  Roman  roads  lead  to  it 

1  Eccies.  X.  18  (R.  V.)     2  Ezek.  xill.  11.    3  Prov.  xxvll.  15.    4  Frov.  xxvii.  15  (Hltzlg  ami 
Nowack).   5  £z6k.  xii.  5.   6  Job  xxiv.  16;  Matt.  vi.  19  (Greek). 


40 


TIIK    HOLY    LAND   AND  THK   BIBLE. 


fCBAr. 


from  the  hills;  it  Ims  no  river,  but  only  a  couple  of  wells  and  the  rain, 
water  which  collects  in  two  hollows  during  the  winter;  and  no  trees 
or  ruiii8  of  a  town  exist.  Ras-el-Ain,  on  the  contrary,  besides  being 
on  the  precise  spot  whicii  known  data  require,  stands  beside  the  noble 
springs  of  the  river  Aujeh,  which  is  a  perennial  stream.  The  Roman 
road  from  Tibneh,  down  the  steep  liills,  runs  direct  to  it.  There  is  a 
large  mound  covered  with  lieaps  of  stone,  old  foundations,  broken  col- 
umns, and  chiselled  blocks,  half  buried  amidst  the  weeds  and  flowers 
which  always  grow  up  among  ruins.  The  spring  whicli  bursts  out 
from  under  this  mound  is  one  of  the  largest  in  all  Palestine,  and  forms, 
at  once,  quite  a  river  flowing  off  towards  the  sea:  no  doubt  that  which 
Joscphus  mentions  as  surrounding  the  town.^  The  hills  which,  he 
says,  are  near,  rise  at  little  more  than  a  mile  to  the  east,  and  .though 
there  are  now  no  trees  to  meet  another  detail  of  his  notice  of  the  place, 
it  would  be  impossible  to  imagine  a  spot  on  the  plain  more  likely  to 
have  been  covered  with  them  in  former  times.*  Plerod  the  Great  had, 
in  I'aot,  built  Antipatris,  named  after  his  father,  Antipater,  close  to  the 
finest  springs  in  the  district,  as  he  had  rebuilt  Jericho,  beside  the  great 
fountain  of  the  circle  of  the  Jordan.  Joseph  us,  indeed,  says  that  it 
stood  at  "  Capharsaba,"  but  this,  it  appears,  was  the  name  of  the  dis- 
trict in  which  Ras-el-Ain  is  found. 

A  medieval  castle,  the  Mirabel  of  the  Crusaders,  stands  on  a  great 
mound  at  Ras-el-Ain,  which  measures  1,C00  feet  east  and  west,  and  950 
from  north  to  south.  Only  the  shell  of  the  fortress,  however,  remains, 
though  the  outer  walls  are  very  perfect.  Beneath,  the  springs,  welling 
up  at  different  points,  but  chiefly  on  the  north,  form  dark  blue  pools, 
frmged  by  willows,  rushes,  and  canes  ;  a  fine  stream  flowing  from  them 
with  a  somewhat  rapid  current,  while  the  moisture  covers  the  plain 
with  grass,  especially  to  the  south,  for  several  hundred  yards.  About 
a  mile  south  is  the  Wady  Lejja,  which,  although  only  showing  pools 
here  and  there  in  summer,  bears  a  strong  tributary  to  the  Aujeh  in 
the  rainy  months ;  the  two  uniting  about  three  miles  beyond  Ras-el> 
Ain. 

Rest  after  toil  is  sweet.  The  descent  from  Tibneh  had  been  most 
fatiguing.  A  Roman  road  may  have  been  very  nice  in  its  day,  but 
after  1,600  or  1,700  years'  use,  without  repair,  its  condition  is  distress* 
ing  enough.  Had  we  been  grandees  it  might  have  been  made  some- 
what better  for  us,  for  it  is  still  the  custom,  as  it  was  in  antiquity,  to 
"prepare  the  way,"  to  "cast  up  a  highway  and  clear  away  the 
stones,"  *  in  anticipation  of  the  passage  of  any  great  jjersonacMl.  When 
one  of  the  Russian  Grand  Dukes  wm  travelling  in  the  Holy  Land 
lately,  the  so  called  road  between  Jerusalem  and  Nablus,  a  distance  of 

1  Jos.  Ant.,  xvi.  6,  2 ;  Bell.  Jud.,  i.  21, 9.    2  See  PcU.  Fund  BepU.,  1874,  pp.  IBS,  IM;  Ari  MenuHrt  VL 
260-2.   3  Isa.  xl.  3, 4 ;  xlix.  11 ;  Ivii.  14 ;  Ixil.  10 ;  Mai.  ill.  1. 


B  and  the  raiii' 
;  and  no  trees 
,  besides  being 
Bside  the  noble 
The  Roman 
it.  There  is  a 
ns,  broken  col- 
3d8  and  flowers 
hich  bursts  out 
tine,  and  forms, 
ubt  that  which 
hills  which,  he 
ist,  and 'though 
ice  of  the  place, 
more  likely  to 
the  Great  had, 
ter,  close  to  the 
laeside  the  great 
ed,  says  that  it 
lame  of  the  dis- 


,  198;  PolJftmoir, IL 


Thy  t^ri-iblenesa  hath  deceiveil  tliee,  and  tlie  pride  of 
thine  h^art,  O  thou  that  dwellest  in  the  clefta  of  the 
roclr,  that  hohlest  the  height  of  the  hill :  tliouRh  thou 
shouMeKt  make  tliy  nest  as  high  as  the  f;iijle,  I  will 
bring  tliee  down  from  thence,  saith  the  U>rd.—Jer. 
xlix.  16. 

A  city  tliat  is  set  on  an  hill  cannct  he  hid.— Matt.  , .  14. 
RUINS  OF  AMWA8  AND  LATRUN.    (See  page  33.) 


^'n^ivtiMxii&tiii^.  ^ikK 


i^. 


III.] 


THE   PLAIN  OF  SHARON. 


41 


forty  miles,  usually  rough  beyond  description,  was  repaired  through- 
out. The  stones  were  gatliered  out,  the  sides  built  up  where  they  had 
given  way,  and  earth  strewn  on  the  bare  sheets  of  rock,  over  which, 
till  then,  the  traveller  had  the  greatest  difficulty  in  passing  safely. 
When  Consul  Eich  was  travelling  through  Koordistan,  ten  or  fifteen 
peasants  accompanied  him,  to  act  as  [)ioneers  in  repairing  bridges,  and 
smoothing  rough  places.  We  can  understand  from  such  customs  the 
language  of  the  prophet  respecting  the  triumphal  return  of  tlie  exiles 
from  Babylon,  under  the  guidance  of  God  Ilimrelf  as  their  Leader — 
"  Prepare  ye  the  way  of  Jehovah,  mnke  straight  ;  the  desert  a  high- 
way for  our  God.  Every  valley  sliall  be  exalted,  and  every  mountain 
and  hill  shall  be  made  low;  and  the  crooked  sliall  be  made  straight, 
and  the  rough  places  plain." 

Kefr  Saba — ^that  is,  the  village  Saba — lies  nearly  six  miles  north  of 
Ras-el-Ain,  about  half  a  mile  to  the  west  of  the  Roman  road,  from 
wiiich  it  looks  very  picturesque;  palm-trees  rising  here  and  there,  and 
olive-grounds  and  orchards  stretciiing  north  and  west  of  it.  It  stands 
on  a  swell  of  the  plain,  but,  tliough  nine  miles  from  the  sea,  is  only 
168  feet  above  it.  Its  houses  are  of  mud  and  small  stones,  with  square 
rain-pools  of  mud  bricks.  Its  wells  lie  to  the  east.  There  are  said  to 
be  800  inhabitants.  On  one  of  the  spurs  to  the  east  of  the  road,  and 
about  as  far  from  it  as  Kefr  Saba,  but  170  feet  higher  above  the  sea, 
hes  Kalkilieh,  the  ancient  Galgula  or  Gilgal,  a  long  straggling  village, 
with  cisterns  to  the  north,  and  a  rain-pool  south-west  of  it.  The  road 
runs  nearly  straight  north,  at  the  foot  of  the  hills,  which  are  frequently 
dotted  with  villages,  almost  undistinguishable  from  the  soil  around, 
because  of  the  leaden  color  of  the  mud  huts.  Olive-groves  clothe 
many  of  the  slopes,  but  there  are  more  ruins  than  villages,  and,  for  one 
olive  grown,  there  is  room  for  a  hundred.  Dry  channels,  worn  by  the 
winter  torrents  from  the  hills,  were  numerous,  some  deep,  others  com- 
paratively shallow.  About  a  ni'.le  off'  on  the  left  hand,  hills,  about 
800  feet  high,  rose  for  a  ]iart  of  the  way;  then,  about  six  miles  north 
of  Kefr  'Saba,  the  plain  broadened  out  to  a  wide  sweep.  A  large  part 
of  it  lay  uncultivated  ;  the  only  ground  under  the  plough  belonging  to 
tlie  people  in  the  villages  on  tlie  hills  to  the  right,  where  they  are 
safer  than  they  would  be  on  the  low  lands.  The  labor  of  going  to  these 
distant  patches  of  barley  or  wheat  is  nothing  compared  to  the  danger 
of  plundering  Arabs,  which  is  escaped  by  living  in  the  uplands.  Thus 
the  peasant  has  still  to  "  go  forth  "  to  sow,  often  to  a  great  distance 
from  his  home.^  The  breadth  of  soil  tilled  depends,  each  year,  on  the 
tranquility  of  the  country. 

Zeita,  a  considerable  village,  lying  370  feet  above  the  sea,  on  the 
edge  of  the  hills,  marks  a  change  in  the  character  of  the  plain.  Groups 
1  Mfttt,  xili,  5. 


42 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


[Ghaf. 


of  fine  springs  burst  from  the  ground  about  four  miles  to  the  west, 
and  form  wide  marshy  titreams,  dear  to  the  buffalo ;  long  grass  fring- 
ing  them,  and  the  soft  i-iud  offering  the  coolness  in  which  that  creature 
delights.  Two  perennial  streams,  the  Iskanderuneh  and  the  MeQir, 
are  fed  from  these  springs.  The  hills  are  of  soft  white  lime,  like  chalk; 
but  a  harder  rock,  stoppirg  the  percolation  of  surface  water,  lies  below. 
Caves,  tombs,  and  cisterns,  in  the  rock,  are  frequent.  As  the  track 
approached  the  line  of  Caesarea  it  descended  once  more  to  the  plains, 
|)assing  between  the  hills  and  a  region  of  oak  forest.  Here  the  slopes 
and  plain  are  alike  covered  with  fine  trees,  growing  ratlier  thinly;  but 
it  is  not  a  comfortable  region  for  travellers,  as  it  is  the  haunt  of  a  tribe 
of  Arabs,  known  as  the  "  Club-bearers,"  very  poor  and  equally  unscrup- 
ulous. The  white  narcissus  was  to  be  seen  everywhere,  but  it  was  too 
early  for  the  blue  iris,  which  by  some  authorities  has  been  identified, 
}is  we  have  seen,  with  the  lily  of  the  valley.  To  the  south  the  trees 
were  thicker  than  farther  north ;  the  scenery  everywhere,  however, 
being  very  charming. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


C^SAREA — ATHLIT. 


The  sand,  which  elsewhere  is  generally  confined  to  the  coast  and  a 
narrow  strip  inland,  has  overwhelmed  the  country  for  four  miles  east 
of  Caesarea,  to  the  edge  of  che  oak  forest,  which,  by  the  way,  is  the 
last  remnant  of  the  great  forests  of  which  Strabo  speaks.  The  ruins 
of  the  once  famous  city  lie  now,  amidst  broad  dunes  of  drifted  sand,  so 
that  they  cannoL  be  seen  more  than  a  mile  off'  on  the  land  side. 

Caesarea  must  always  have  a  profound  interest  from  its  connection 
with  the  early  history  of  the  Church.  The  devout  centurion  Cornelius, 
whose  "prayers  and  alms  had  gone  up  for  a  memorial  before  God," 
was  stationed  here  with  his  regiment,  the  Italian  cohort,  when  the 
vision  was  granted  in  which  an  angel  directed  him  to  send  to  Joppa 
for  Peter,  To  induce  the  apostle  to  set  out,  however,  a  vision  to  him 
also  was  needed,  enforcing  the  lesson  that  "God  is  no  respector  of 
persons:  but  that  in  evry  nation  he  that  feareth  Him,  and  worketh 
righteousness,  is  accepted  .vith  Him."^  That  vision  was  the  procla- 
mation, in  unmistakable  symbolism,  that  the  Gentile  should  be  fellow- 
heir  with  the  Jew  of  the  "misearchabl^  riches  of  Christ;."    As  the  first 

1  Acts  X.  34,  3$, 


iv.i 


C^SAREA — ATHLIT. 


48 


convert  from  a  non-Israelitish  race,  Cornelius  is  the  representative  of 
all  who  in  every  nation  have  since  believed  in  the  Crucified  Ono.  In 
his  case  the  Holy  Ghost  was  first  poured  out  on  the  heathen,  and  his 
baptism  was  the  first  outside  the  chosen  people.  Henceforth,  no  man 
could  any  longer  be  called  "common  or  unclean,"^  and  it  was  made 
clear  that  "to  the  Gentiles  also  hath  God  granted  reptentance  unto 
life."^  To  all  the  nations  beyond  the  sea  which  laved  the  shores  of 
Palestine,  Britain  among  them,  the  gates  of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven 
were  then  proclaimed  to  be  standing  open.  It  was  at  Caesarea  also 
that  the  evangelist  Phihp,  with  his  four  daughters,  made  his  home.^ 
St.  Paul  passed  through  it  on  his  way  to  Tarsus,  and  he  landed  at  it 
from  Ephesus  and  from  Ptolemais.*  In  its  prison,  moreo\v^r,  two 
years  of  his  life  were  spent,  before  he  finally  left  the  East  for  Eome 
and  Spain.**  The  track  by  which  he  had  been  brought  from  Anti- 
patris  to  Caesarea,  under  cover  of  night,  had  been  for  the  most  part 
ours.  In  the  theatre,  built  by  Herod  the  Great,  his  grandfather — Herod 
Agrippa — in  the  fourth  year  of  his  reign  was  struck  with  mortal 
disease.®  He  had  ordered  public  shows  in  honor  of  Caesar  to  be 
exhibited  in  the  theatre  facing  the  sea,  on  the  south  of  tlie  city,  and  on 
the  second  day  of  these  festivities,  the  day  which  had  been  fixed  for 
his  public  appearance,'  presented  himself  in  robes  of  silver  tissue,  in 
the  early  morning.  The  sun  shone  full  on  the  amphitheatre,  built  as 
it  was  for  open-air  exhibitions,  his  beams  striking  back  from  Agrippa's 
glittering  robes  with  a  splendor  that  made  him  seem  more  than  mortal. 
Nor  were  flntterers  long  in  using  the  opportunity  to  hail  him  as  a  god, 
a  form  of  blasphemous  adulation  long  common  towards  kings  in  the 
East,  and  latterly  introduced  towards  the  Caesars.  Proud  to  be 
exalted  like  them,  the  king  accepted  the  monstrous  homage,  but  only 
to  his  ruin,  for  there  and  then  a  violent  pain  smoto  him  in  his  body, 
80  that  he  had  to  be  carried  to  his  palace,  where,  after  five  days,  he 
died,  worn  out  with  pain.^  The  Acts  of  the  A.postles  adds,  "  eaten  by 
worms."  So,  the  Jews  held,  Antiochus  Epiphanes,  the  great  perse- 
cutor of  their  religion,  had  died.® 

Caesu'"ea  was  one  of  the  cities  built  by  Herod  the  Great,  a  man  of 
vast  energy  and  ability.  The  site  chosen  was  that  of  an  old  town 
known  as  Strato's  Tower,  the  name  being  changed  in  honor  of  the 
Emperor  Augustus:  a  form  of  flattery  common  in  that  age,  when  so 
many  cities  were  rebuilt  or  founded  to  undo  the  havoc  of  the  great 
civil  wars,  which  had  laid  so  many  places  in  ruins.  Samaria,  Ascalon, 
Antipatris,  and  many  other  towns,  owed  much  to  the  magnificent  con- 
ceptions of  Herod.  But  in  Caesarea  his  genius  displayed  itself  in 
results  surpassing  the  architectural  triumphs  of  any  of  the  old  Hebrew 

1  Acts  X.  28.     2  Acts  xl.  18.    3  Acts  xxi.  8.    4  Acts  xvlii.  2?    xxi.8.    5  Acts  xxiv.  27.    6ActsxU, 
;&;  Jos.  Ant.,  xix.  8,  2.    7  Acts  x^.v.  ^.    8  Jos.  Ant,  xix.  28.      2  Mace.  Ix.  5-9, 


4*^ 


THE   HOLY   LANJ)   AND  THE  BIBLE. 


[Chap. 


kings,  excepting  perhaps  Solomon,  whose  great  walls  at  Jerusalem,  to 
prepare  a  site  for  his  Tem})le,  must  have  been  truly  wonderful  creations. 
Till  Herod's  dav  the  plain  of  Sharon  had  been  simply  a  broad  tract  of 
pasture,  forest,  and  tillage,  with  no  history,  but  he  raised  it  to  the  fore- 
most place  in  the  land.  The  want  of  a  port  to  receive  the  commerce 
of  the  West,  had  always  been  felt,  and  the  closer  relations  of  all 
countries,  under  liome,  had  deepened  the  feeling.  The  shore  offered 
no  natural  harbor,  but  there  was  a  rocky  ledge  at  Stiato's  Tower,  as 
at  Ascalon  on  the  south,  and  Dor  on  the  north,  and  this  Herod  chose 
as  the  seat  of  a  projected  port.  In  twelve  years  a  splendid  city  rose 
on  the  ledge  and  its  iieigliborliood,  with  broad  quays,  magnificent 
bazaars,  sj)acious  public  buildings  and  courts,  arched  sailors'  homes, 
and  long  avenues  of  corninodioiis  streets.  A  double  harbor  had  been 
constructed,  of  about  200  yards  each  way,  and  also  a  i-'^'t.  over  130 
yards  in  length,  built  of  stones  fifty  feet  long,  eighteen  broad,  and  nine 
thick.  This  great  structure  wjis  raised  out  of  water  twenty  fathoms 
deep,  and  was  200  feet  \vi(lt\  a  wall  standing  on  it,  and  several  towers, 
the  largest  of  which  was  calle<l  Di-iisus,  after  the  .step-son  of  Augustus. 
The  pier  was  adorned,  inoreovci-.  witli  s|)lendid  pillars,  and  a  terraced 
walk  extended  round  the  harbor.  On  mm  eminence,  beside  a  temple  of 
polished  stone,  near  the  shore,  ros*^  a  colossal  statue  of  Augustus,  as 
Ju])iter-  Olympus,  visible  far  out  at  sea,  and  another  at  Rome,  deified 
as  Juno.  A  huge  open-'ur  thealri';  was  built  on  the  slopes  of  the  hills, 
some  miles  north  of  the  city,  as  well  as  a  great  amphitheatre,  560  leet 
in  diameter,  and  cai)able  of  containing  20,000  speclntors.  A  hippo- 
drome, or  as  we  might  call  it,  a  circus,  over  l.oOO  feet  long,  rose  in  the 
east  of  the  city;  the  remains  of  a  goal-post  of  granite,  still  seen  on  its 
site,  showing  the  magnificence  of  the  whole  structure;  for  the  three 
blocks  of  which  it  consists  originally  fonned  a  conical  pillar,  seven  feet 
six  inches  high,  standing  on  a  mass  of  ^Tanite  proportionately  massive, 
and  all  resting,  apparontl\'^,  on  a  base  forfned  of  a  single  granite  block, 
thirty-fv  jr  feet  long,  brought  from  Egy))t.  1  he  walls  of  the  Ilerodian 
city  enclosed  aa  area  of  400  acres,  but  gardens  and  villas,  it  may  be 
presumed,  stretched  far  beyond  them  in  the  centuries  of  the  Roman 
peace.  Besides  the  theatres,  a  grand  j^alace,  afterwards  the  residence 
of  the  Roman  governors,  was  enjcted  for  himself  by  Herod;  and  he 
had  the  wisdom,  .so  unusual  in  the  Kast,  to  provide  for  the  city  a  com- 
})lete  system  of  un<lergroufid  8ewer;«</e,  after  t!ie  Italian  plan.  To 
supply  the  city  witii  water  two  aqueducts  were  built:  one,  with  a 
doi^blp  conduit  of  great  size,  str<;tciiing  away,  for  tiie  most  j>a.'t  on 
arclu^s,  l;;t  in  part  thrr)ugli  a  tunneV  first  north,  ti)«;i.  east,  for  over 
eigiit  miles,  to  the  great  springs  issuing  all  over  this  dmtrict  from  the 

i  tMU^  st.t  rcist^s  leading  tlo^* ..  tp  Uiis  aj-e  cut  in  tjie  rycJSj 


erusalein,  to 
ul  creations, 
oad  tract  of 
t  to  tlie  Ibre- 
le  coinmerce 
tions  of   all 
shore  offered 
)'s  Tower,  as 
Herod  chose 
did  city  rose 
magnificent 
ilors'  homes, 
,)or  had  been 
i'T.  over  130 
oad,  and  nine 
Bnty  fathoms 
veral  towers, 
of  Augustus, 
nd  a  terraced 
e  a  temple  of 
Augustus,  as 
Rome,  deified 
3  of  the  hills, 
atre,  560  le<rt 
i.     A  hippo- 
,  rose  in  the 
seen  on  its 
for  the  three 
r,  seven  feet 
ely  inassive, 
aiiite  block, 
le  llerodian 
<,  it  may  be 
the  Roman 
le  residence 
rod ;  and  he 
city  a  com- 
1  pUn.     To 
one,  with  a 
Host  pa.'t  on 
tast,  for  over 
Jot  from  the 


In  the  choice  of  thy  sepulchres  hurv 
thy  dead ;  noH'  >f  us  shall  withhold 
from  thee  his  -■  mlchre,  but  that  thou 
mayeatbury  '        iead. — Oen.xxui.  6. 

Whom  ha^  thou  here,  that  thou  hast 
hewed  thee  c  it  a  sepulchre  here,  as  he 
that  heweth  him  out  a  sepulchre  on 
high,  and  that  p-j'vrth  an  habitation  for 
himself  in  a  rock  ? — Isa.  xxii.  16. 


ANCIENT  ROCK  TOMBS  AT  TIBNEH.    (See  page  35.) 


hr 


IV.l 


CJESAREA — ATHLIT. 


46 


Carmel  hills,  which  slant  down  beyond  CaBsarea,  on  the  other  side  of 
the  plain.  The  second  aqueduct,  on  the  level  of  the  ground,  ran  three 
miles  north,  to  the  perennial  stream  of  the  river  Zerka. 

The  ruins  now  left  have  seen  a  strange  history.  It  was  in  Csesarea 
that  the  conflict  arose  between  Jews  and  Greeks  which  led  to  the  last 
Jewish  war,  and  it  was  in  the  circus,  which  has  long  since  perished, 
that  Titus,  after  the  fall  of  Jerusalem,  celebrated  splendid  games  in 
which  over  2,000  Jewish  prisoners  were  killed,  as  gladiators,  in  the 
arena.  Two  centuries  later  Caesarea  was  the  seat  of  a  Christian  bishop. 
Here  the  illustrious  Father,  Origen,  found  an  asylum ;  and  here  the 
Church  historian,  Eusebius,  a  native  of  Palestine,  wore  the  mitre.* 

With  the  Crusades  a  new  Caesarea  rose  amidst  the  wreck  of  that  of 
Herod,  but  it  has  long  since  shared  the  fate  of  its  predecessor.  The 
shattered  skeleton  of  the  mediaeval  castle  rises  high  above  the  ancient 
mole  on  the  south  side  of  the  harbor  ;  the  ends  of  rows  of  marble  pil- 
lars, from  the  city  of  Herod  protruding  from  the  walls  in  which  they 
have  been  imbedded  to  give  additional  strength.  Others  lie  on  the 
strand,  the  wall  into  which  they  were  built  having  perished.  Still 
others,  sixty  or  seventy  in  number,  and  from  five  to  nearly  twenty  feet 
long,  lie  side  by  side,  on  a  reef  or  ancient  mo^"  once  the  north  side  of  the 
harbor,  and  form  a  kind  of  jetty  about  2C  *  tt^i  long.  Huge  masses  of 
granite  lying  about,  tell  the  same  tale  oT  ruin.  Of  Herod's  temple 
only  the  foundations  remain,  the  buildings  which  they  adorned  having 
long  since  disappeared ;  but  the  whiteness  of  these  foundations,  con- 
trasting strongly  with  the  brown  sandstone  of  later  builders,  shows  that, 
as  Josephus  tells  us,  they  were  brought  from  a  distance  at  great 
expense.  The  defences  of  the  old  Roman  city  have  long  since  per- 
ished, but  the  sandstone  walls  of  the  Caesarea  of  the  Middle  Ages  still 
show  massive  fragments,  some  of  them  from  twenty  to  thirty  feet  high; 
their  buttresses  and  moats  here  and  there  still  perfect.  Over  the 
whole  site,  amidst  a  wilderness  of  thistles,  wild  flowers,  and  thorny 
growths,  lie  scattered  fallen  pillars  and  heaps  of  masonry  ;  the  wreck 
of  palaces,  temples,  churches,  mosques,  and  public  buildings.  On  the 
top  of  the  hill,  in  the  south  part  of  the  Crusading  city,  are  the  founda- 
tions of  the  cathedral,  and  on  the  north  are  the  ruins  of  a  second 
cnurch,  of  much  smaller  dimensions.  Once  gay,  Caesarea,  which  even 
in  the  Middle  Ages  was  famous  for  the  running  streams  in  its  streets, 
its  date-palms,  and  oranges,  sweet  and  bitter,  has  for  many  generations 
been  at  best  only  a  place  where  the  passing  shepherd  folds  his  flocks— for 
the  walls  and  buildings  were  destroyed  by  the  Sultan  Bibars  in  1265. 
But  the  prosperity  of  the  city  has. always  depended  on  artificial  sources. 
Since  it  was  without  a  natural  harbor,  the  destruction  of  the  mole  cut 
off  trade  by  aea,  and  the  breaking  of  tlie  aqueducts  stopped  the  supply 
i,  Consecrated  k.  s.  S1& 


iT 


46 


THE  HOLY   LAND   AND  THE   BIBLE. 


[Chap. 


^I 


li 

ff 

I, 
1^ 


!^ 


of  water,  for  there  is  only  one  brackish  well  within  the  walls.  Man 
witiidrawn,  the  restless  sand  was  free  to  spread  ii5  shroud  over  all  his 
works,  and  create  the  desolation  tiiat  now  reigns  far  and  near. 

North  of  Osesarea,  the  Cannel  hills  approach  within  a  little  more 
than  a  mile  of  the  shore,  close  to  which  there  is  a  lower  range,  leaving 
only  a  narrow  strip  of  plain  between  t!.<e  two  To  the  east,  liowcver, 
before  this  narrower  strip  begins,  the  hills  retire  three  or  four  tniles,  to 
trend  southwards  at  that  distance.  At  the  foot  of  tiiis  bay  of  heights, 
steadily  rising  till  tlioy  became  the  central  mountains  of  the  land,  the 
whole  plain  is  more  or  leas  marshy  and  unsafe.  Treacherous  bogs  nnd 
spongy  turf,  dotted  with  bushes  and  tall  ivods,  characterized  the  whole 
region,  which  we  carefnlly  avoided,  as  owv  horses  would  infallibly  have 
sunk  every  here  and  there  to  their  girths,  had  we  ventured  to  cross  it. 
All  the  hill-slopes  are  coveivd  with  a  sprinkling  of  oaks,  which  are 
like  those  to  the  south,  on  tl»e  plain,  but  that  they  grow  moi^  openly. 
It  is,  indeed,  a  nearly  universal  feature  of  trees  in  Palestine  that  they 
stand  thus  a]>art;  the  interval  being,  as  a  rule,  covered  with  a  tangle 
of  thorns  or  undergrowth.  Scrub  is  much  more  prevalent,  as  I  have 
already  said,  west  of  the  Jordan,  than  trees  of  any  tieight,  though  there 
are  a  good  numy  fairly  well-grown  oaks  and  other  trees  beyond  Naza- 
reth and  round  Oa^sarea  Philippi,  but  tifey  always  stand  like  trees  in  a 
park  rather  than  in  a  wood.  Tabor  is  one  mass  of  scrub  and  stunted 
growths,  and  Carmel  is  much  the  same ;  while  the  hills  of  Ephraim 
and  Benjamin  have  scarcely  any  wood  on  them  at  all.  Indeed,  the 
whole  rei'ion  east  of  the  watershed  at  Nablus  is  very  bare,  from  Gilboa 
to  the  wiiJv  rness  in  the  south.  West  and  north-west  of  Hebron,  on  the 
other  hand,  he  hills  are  rough,  once  more,  with  scrub.  The  numerous 
herds  of  goats  are  in  great  part  the  cause  of  this  dwarf  timbering, 
but  the  charcoal  burner.s,  who  dig  out  tlie  very  i-oots  of  the  bushes  for 
charcoal,  are  even  more  guilty  of  creating  the  treeless  desolation. 

It  may  be  that  the  Bible  word  "  yaar "  once  meant  woods  in  our 
sense,  and  that  the  Arab  "  waar,"  now  used  for  stunted,  scraggy  thickets, 
has  come  to  be  so  used  from  the  disa})pearance  of  trees  worthy  of  the 
name.  It  is  at  least  certain  tiiat  we  read  of  Kirjath  Jearm,  "the 
Town  in  the  Woods,"  or  "  yaars,"  and  that  there  was  even  in  the  now 
barren  valleys  east  of  Betliel  a  "yaar"  in  wliich  bears  found  shelter.^ 
Jeremiah  and  other  ])ro[)heta  ^  s|^->eak  of  lions,  boars,  and  othor  wild 
beasts  haunting  the  "yaar"  i)i  their  day;  and  the  murmur  of  the 
leaves  in  a  great  wood  when  stirred  by  the  wind  ;^  the  stripping  of  the 
trees  by  the  violence  oi  a  storm;'*  the  hewiiig  down  v\ith  the -ixe, 
which  is  used  as  a  ilgure  of  the  havoc  with  which  an  iir'adi:;r  iiews 
down  a  widespread  population,"  and  the  grand  spectacle  of  woods  on 
fire,  are  frequently  introduced  in  prophetic  imagery.^    If  not  abound- 

1  2  Kings  ii.  24.    2  Ps.  1. 10;  Isa.  hi  **;  Jer.  v.  6;  xii.  8;  Ainos  ili.  4;  MiC,  V.  8,  3 ls».  vjl,  2,  J  J^, 
XXix.  9.   0  Isft,  X.  34.    6  Ps.  Ixxxiii.  14.  Isa,.  ix.  18;  Jer.  xxi.  li 


[CHAP. 

Man 
all  liis 

e  more 
leaving 
»\vever, 
nles,  to 

md,  the 
ogs  aiul 
3  wliole 
)ly  Imve 
cross  it. 
lich  are 

openly. 
11  at  they 
a  tangle 
s  I  have 
,gh  there 
\d  Naza- 
trees  iii  a 
A  stunted 
Ephraim 
deed,  tlie 
m  Gilboa 
)n,  on  tlie 
numerous 

mbering, 

lUshes  for 

ion, 

\]8  m  our 
thickets, 

hhy  of  the 
nn,  "the 


IV.l 


CJiSAHEA— ATHLlt. 


4f 


ing  with  lofty,  nmbrageous  woods  like  our  own,  the  landsoapes  of  Pal- 
estine must  have  been  richer  long  ago  than  they  are  now  with  some 
forn\  of  scrub,  or  trees  of  moderate  growth,  such  ay  are  still  seen  in  some 
places. 

The  Zorka  in  part  drains  the  wide,  marshy  ground  along  the  foot  of 
the  hills,  but  a  dam  built  about  a  mile  from  the  sea,  to  give  a  full  rush 
of  water  for  mills,  has  by  neglect  overflowed  a  large  district  north  and 
south  till  it  is  a  mere  swamp,  in  which,  strange  to  say,  it  is  affirmed 
that  crocodiles  are  still  found,  tliough  very  rarely.  One  was,  indeed, 
killed  in  it  some  years  since  and  sent  to  the  English  missionary  at 
Nazareth,  where  Furrer  saw  the  preserved  skin  ;^  but  in  any  case  they 
are  exoeedingly  rare.  A  huge  lizard,  measuring  from  three  to  five  feet, 
found  at  times  in  Palestine,  and  common  in  Egypt  and  the  Sinai 
peninsula,  may  have  passed  muster  as  a  <!rocodile  in  some  cases  where 
these  hateful  saurians  have  been  supposed  to  have  been  seen  elsewhere; 
but  in  the  Zerka  at  least  the  prophets  could  find  materials  for  their 
introduction  of  the  crocodile  as  their  symbol  of  Egypt,  as  so  frequently 
happens.2  The  village  of  Kefr  Saba^  seems  to  owe  its  name  to  the 
commonness  niear  it,  in  old  times,  of  a  grass-green  lizard,  sometimes 
eighteen  inches  long,  still  called  "Sab"  by  the  Arabs. 

Ou  the  heights  over  the  winding  course  of  the  Zerka,  about  three 
miles  from  the  sea,  are  copious  fountains,  now  called  Ma-mas,  which 
were  utilized  by  Herod  to  supply  the  great  aqueduct  of  Cajsarea. 
Near  them,  on  the  slope  of  a  hill,  in  a  wilderness  of  lusty  weeds  and 
grass,  amidst  what  seem  to  be  the  ruins  of  a  considerable  town,  are  the 
remains  of  an  open-air  theatre,  in  which  the  good  folk  of  Christ's  day, 
no  doubt,  often  gathered  from  the  neighboring  city,  and  from  the 
houses  and  villas  then  thickly  covering  many  nearer  spots.  It  is  built 
in  the  form  of  a  half-circle,  the  front  measuring  166  feet  across.  The 
stone  seats  have  long  since  been  carried  to  Joppa,  Jerusalem,  or  Beirut, 
as  building  material,  like  the  wreck  of  CVg^rea  itself;  but  the  vaults 
beneath  and  the  chambers,  from  whic^  the  horses  and  other  animals 
introduced  in  the  displays  were  brougl)^  into  the  arena,  are  still  used 
as  stables  and  granaries  by  the  peasant.'.  The  spectators  must  have 
enjoyed  varied  delights  in  such  a  spot,  fo»',  apart  from  the  excitement 
of  the  games,  the  beauty  of  the  view  over  the  plain  before  them,  and 
the  mountains  and  sea,  on  the  one  hand  and  the  other,  is  bewitching 
even  now.  From  Csesarea  the  best  road  tothid  outlying  country  resort 
of  its  citizens  is  along  the  top  of  the  double  high-level  aqueduct ;  but 
though  not,  perhaps,  actually  dangerous,  the  journey  is  such  as  to  need 
steady  nerves. 

The  Zerka,  which  must  have  had  crocodiles  in  its  marshes  informer 

1  Schenkel,  Bib.  Lex.,  iii.  612.   2  Isa.  xxvii.  1 ;  li.  9;  Ezek.  xxix.  8:  xxxil.  2.   8  Kefr  or  Capbar 
means  "YlUage." 


I 


48 


THE   HOLY   I.ANn   AND  THE  BIBLE. 


(CBAP. 


times,  since  its  ancient  name  was  the  Crocodile  lliver,^  is  mainly  fed 
by  the  great  springs  of  Ma-mas,  and  flows  into  the  sea  over  a  stony 
bed,  with  a  strong  current,  from  five  to  ten  yards  across  and  about  two 
feet  deep.  Tlie  damming  back  of  its  waters  higher  up  forms  a  broad, 
deep,  blue  pool,  passing  into  wide  marshes,  quite  impassable  on  both 
banKs.  In  these  the  tamarisk  grows  luxuriantly,  and  along  the  stream 
below  the  dam  the  Syrian  papyrus  is  found ;  tlie  course,  higher  up, 
being  hidden  in  wide  stretches  of  cane-brake  and  rushes.  It  can  only 
be  crossed  by  a  low  foot-bridge  at  the  mill,  leading  over  the  dam — 
unless  one  be  near  the  sea,  where  it  is  generally  fordable.  Ages  long 
dead  arc  brought  back  again  for  the  moment  by  noticing  that  its  mouth 
is  guarded  by  a  narrow  Crusading  fort,  near  which  are  the  remains  of 
a  bridge  of  the  same  date. 

From  the  Zerka,  north,  there  is  only  a  very  narrow  pli in,  cultivated, 
in  part,  with  olive-groves,  hanging  on  the  hill-slopes  to  tlie  east,  while 
a  low  range  of  rocks,  about  sixty  feet  high,  runs  parallel  with  the  sea 
on  the  west.  It  is  a  \vearisome  ride  of  about  nine  hours  from  Caasarea 
to  the  northern  extremity  of  the  plain,  at  Carmel,  but  there  is  at  the 
same  time  a  special  interest  in  the  evidences  one  sees  of  a  long-past 
prosperity,  strikingly  in  contrast  with,  the  present  condition  of  the  dis- 
trict. About  nine  miles  from  Carmel,  to  the  south,  lie  the  ruins  of 
Athlit,  one  of  the  chief  landing-places  of  pilgrims  during  the  thir- 
teenth century.  A  rocky  promontory  shooting  out  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
into  the  sea  was  made  use  of  by  the  Templars  in  1218  as  the  fitting 
site  for  a  great  fortress,  which  they  forthwith  raised  on  the  old  founda- 
tions of  some  town,  of  which  nothing  even  then  was  known.  An 
outer  wall,  once  strongly  fortified,  can  still  be  traced  for  800  yards 
north  and  south,  and  for  300  yards  thence  to  the  sea  on  the  west  though 
only  a  few  fragments  of  the  masonry,  sufficient  to  show  the  huge  size 
of  the  stones  used,  have  escaped  being  carried  off  to  Acre  as  ready- 
made  building  materials.  Outside  this  great  wall  ran  a  deep  ditch, 
into  which  the  sea  flowed,  completely  surrounding  the  stronghold. 

In  the  centre  of  the  promontory  rises  the  citadel,  with  walls  of  sandy, 
porous  limestone,  fifteen  feet  thick  and  thirty  feet  high,  now  much 
ruined ;  the  remains  of  a  magnificent  church  in  one  corner  of  the 
enclosure  attesting  the  fervor  of  the  old  champions  of  the  faith,  as 
the  citadel  itself  shows  their  energetic  valor.  The  eastern  wall  of  one 
of  the  old  towers  of  the  city  still  rises  proudly  to  a  height  of  eighty 
feet,  but  it  stands  alone.  Huge  vaults  honeycomb  the  interior  of  the 
citadel ;  one,  which  is  cemented,  being  said  to  be  an  oil- vat,  capable 
of  containing  260^00  gallons.  Another  has  been  explored  to  the  dis- 
tance of  264  feet  i  a  third  has  a  groined  roof,  with  ribbed  arches ; 

lBeland,jni{^p.7B0i 


The  Sacred  Tree  (Schesh  et  Tein)  near  Tibneb.    (See  page  86.) 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


1.0 


I.I 


21   IM 


US 

mm 


u 
u 


140 


2.0 


iiiiiiy4U4 


Hi0tiogFa]iiic 

Sciences 

Carporation 


33  WIST  MAIN  STRHT 

WnSTIII,N.Y.  14510 

(71«)I72*4S03 


^^^ 
^ 


■^ 


^ 


1V.1 


O-aSAREA— ATflLlT. 


4d 


illustrations,  all  of  them,  of  the  spirit  and  the  lavish  expenditure  of 
means  and  skill  which  the  Crusaders  displayed  in  their  structures. 

Six  or  seven  miles  south  of  Athlit  lie  the  ruins  of  Dor,  now  known 
as  Tanturah ;  the  ancient  chariot-road  running  outside  the  low  coast- 
hills,  near  the  sea,  but  separated  from  it  by  a  strip  of  land  and  marsh. 
A  few  goat-herds  watering  their  flocks  at  a  clay  trough  were  the  only 
human  beings  seen  most  of  the  way,  but  along  the  edges  of  a  tiny 
stream,  oleanders,  lupins,  grass,  and  tall  bushes  relieved  the  tameness 
of  the  view.  The  tribe  of  Manasseh  was  to  have  had  this  part  of  the 
land,  but  could  not,  for  centuries,  drive  out  the  "  Canaanite,"  though  in 
the  end  it  compelled  him  to  pay  tribute.*  Four  miles  south  of  Athlit, 
near  the  small  village  of  Sarafend,  a  pleasant  relief  from  sand  and 
marshes  was  offered  by  fields  of  sesame,  millet,  and  tobacco,  as  well  as 
by  some  palm-trees  near  the  shore,  and  fig-orchards,  for  which  the  spot 
is  famous.  Indian  corn,  vegetables,  olives,  figs, 'and  other  fruit  are 
grown  here  and  there  in  these  parts  by  the  industry  of  the  people  of 
one  or  two  villages.  Old  quarnes,  tombs,  ruins,  and  bog  are,  however, 
more  frequent  than  cultivated  fields  or  gardens,  reaching  up  to  the  ruins 
of  Tanturah,  which  stand  on  a  rough  promontory,  with  a  tower  thirty 
feet  high,  showing  the  site  of  an  old  Crusading  fortress.  The  modem 
village  is  a  little  farther  south,  on  the  site  of  the  old  Canaanite  city  of 
Dor,2  afterwards  the  Dora  of  the  Eomans,  memorials  of  which,  in  the 
shape  of  pillars  and  sculptured  capitals,  slabs  of  marble,  and  hewn 
stones,  strew  the  shore.  A  few  mud  huts,  two  or  three  better  than  the 
rest  make  up  the  hamlet,  which  looks  miserable  enough  in  its  environ- 
ment of  sand  and  marshy  flat.  One  of  the -principal  houses  consisted 
of  a  single  square  room,  of  good  size,  plastered  with  mud,  and  roofed 
with  branches  long  since  varnished  black  by  the  smoke.  These  hung 
down  roughly  over  one  half  of  the  room ;  the  other  half  was  hidden 
by  a  canvas  ceiling.  .The  door  had  no  hinges,  but  was  lifted  to  its 
place,  or  from  it,  and  the  windows  were  only  square  holes  in  the  mud 
walls.  A  clay  bench,  joined  to  the  wall,  ran  along  one  side  of  the 
room,  serving  for  chairs  by  day  and  sleeping-places  by  night.  A  rough 
cooking  table  of  clay  and  stone,  from  the  ruins,  was  at  one  corner, 
with  a  little  charcoal  glowing  on  the  top  of  it— chiefly,  as  it  seemed, 
to  roast  coffee-berries  and  boil  water  in  which  to  infuse  them,  when 
they  had  been  duly  pounded  in  a  stone  or  wooden  mortar. 

It  cannot  be  said  that  this  neighborhood  is  a  very  inviting  one  to 
the  traveller,  the  natives  being  so  savage  and  rude  that  their  local 
feuds  often  give  great  trouble.  Eock-hewn  tombs  are  common,  but 
the  only  use  to  which  they  are  now  put  seems  to  be  to  hide  away  the 
bodies  of  men  who  have  been  robbed  and  killed.  In  one  case  Cap- 
tain Conder  found  in  an  old  Jewish  tomb  six  corpses,  belonging  appar- 

1  Judg.  1. 27. 28.   2  Josh.  xvil.  11. 

4 


50 


THE   HOLY  LAND  AND  THE  9IBLB. 


[CHAP. 


eiitly  to  strangers  recently  murdered.  The  number  of  skulls  and  bones 
in  other  tombs,  he  adds,  astonished  him,  till  he  found  that  many  of 
them  were  fractured,  and  was  told  that  they  had  belonged  to  persons 
murdered  by  the  villagers. 

A  little  south  of  Tanturah  is  another  perennial  stream,  like  the  rest 
in  the  district  in  being  only  a  few  miles  long,  and  fed  by  the  marshes. 
The  road  is  unspeakably  desolate:  sand  on  one  side,  bog  on  the  other; 
while  the  element  of  danger  adds  to  the  eagerness  with  which  it  is  lefb 
behind.  A  guard  is  a  wise  precaution  in  this  part,  whether  for 
property  or  for  person. 

Eecrossing  the  Zerka,  and  keeping  the  coast-road  by  Csesarea,  the 
sand  stretches  inland  for  miles,  a  few  stunted  oaks  being  the  only 
prominent  vegetation.  Not  a  house  or  living  being  was  to  be  seen. 
Passing  the  harbor  of  Abu  Zabura,  at  which  fragments  of  broken  pot- 
tery tell  of  a  village  or  town  once  in  existence  on  the  spot,  the  stream 
Iskanderuneh  empties  itself  into  the  sea.  In  a  dry  season  it  can  be 
forded  at  its  moutn,  but  sometimes  it  needs  much  trouble  to  get  across. 
A  little  way  back  from  the  shore  it  is,  indeed,  impracticable  to 
approach  it,  &om  the  danger  of  quicksands  and  treacherous  marsli. 
The  deep  sand  on  the  shore  was  very  fatiguing  as  we  toiled  on  under 
the  perpendicular  cliffs,  which  shut  out  all  view  of  the  country  for  the 
time.  It  was  better,  therefore,  to  take  advantage  of  an  opening  in  the 
ridge  on  our  left  and  turn  inland  to  Mukhalid,  the  first  village  on  our  way, 
lying  on  the  track  to  the  south,  about  a  mile  from  the  cliflfs.  It  is  in  the 
heart  of  the  chief  melon -growing  district  of  Palestine,  and  must  pre- 
sent a  striking  scene  when  the  crop  is  being  harvested.  Hundreds  of 
camels  then  wait  their  turn  to  be  loaded  with  the  huge  fruit,  or  stalk 
away  with  a  full  burden  of  it.  Peasants  in  their  white  turbans  and 
shirts,  the  latter  duly  girt  round  them  by  a  leather  strap,  assiduously 
gather  the  different  kinds  of  melon,  while  the  teijt  of  the  tax-collectors, 
pitched  in  the  fields,  shows  that  these  oppressors  are  on  the  look-out 
to  lay  a  heavy  hand  on  the  produce,  for  tne  Government.  How  is  it 
that  great  vegete'ole  globes,  like  these  melons,  so  full  of  water,  thrive 
thus  wonderfully  on  so  hot  and  sandy  a  soil  ?  The  camel-loads  of 
them  taken  to  the  shore  fill  a  thousand  boats  each  summer.  Indeed, 
if  it  were  not  for  fear  of  the  Bedouins,  there  need  be  no  limit  to  the 
quantity  grown. 

The  secret  of  this  luxuriant  fertility  lies  in  the  rich  supply  of  moist- 
ure afforded  by  the  sea- winds  which  blow  inland  each  night,  and  water 
the  face  of  the  whole  land.  There  is  no  dew,  properly  so-called,  in 
Palestine,  for  there  is  no  moisture  in  the  hot  summer  air  to  be  chilled 
into  dewdrops  by  the  coolness  of  the  night,  as  in  a  climate  like  ours. 
From  May  till  October  rain  is  unknown,  the  sun  shining  with 
unclouded  brightness  day  after  day.    The  heat  becomes  intense,  the 


Reservnir  and  Aqueduct  near  Kaa-el-'Aiu.    (See  page  39.) 


■■i 


lOl 


IV.1 


OJBSAREA — ATHUT. 


61 


ground  hard;  and  vegetation  would  perish  but  for  the  moist  west 
winds  that  come  each  night  from  the  sea.  The  bright  skies  cause  the 
heat  of  the  day  to  radiate  very  quickly  into  space,  so  that  the  nights 
are  as  cold  as  the  day  is  the  reverse :  a  peculiarity  of  climate  from 
which  poor  Jacob  suffered,  thousands  of  years  ago,  for  he  too  speaks 
of  "  the  drought  consuming  him  by  day,  and  the  cold  by  night."  ^  To 
this  coldness  of  the  night-air  the  indispensable  watering  ofall  plant 
life  is  due.  The  winds,  loaded  with  moisture,  are  robbed  of  it  as  thev 
pass  over  the  land,  the  cold  air  condensing  it  into  drops  of  water,  which 
fall  in  a  gracious  rain  of  mist  on  every  thirsty  blade.  In  the  morning 
the  fog  thus  created  rests  like  a  sea  over  the  plains,  and  far  up  tlie  sides 
of  the  hills,  which  raise  their  heads  above  it  like  so  many  islands.  At 
sunrise,  however,  the  scene  speedily  changes.  By  the  kindling  light 
.  the  mist  is  transformed  into  vast  snow-white  clouds,  which  presently 
break  into  separate  masses  and  rise  up  the  mountain-sides,  to  disappear 
in  the  blue  above,  dissipated  by  the  increasing  heat.  These  are  the 
"  morning  clouds  and  the  early  dew  that  go  away "  of  which  Hosea 
speaks  so  touchingly.^  Any  one  standing  at  sunrise  on  a  vantage- 
ground  in  Jerusalem,  or  on  the  Mount  of  Olives,  and  looking  down 
towards  the  Dead  Sea,  must  have  seen  how  the  masses  of  Ijillowy 
vapor,  filling  the  valleys  during  the  night,  sway  and  break  up  when 
the  light  streams  on  them  from  over  the  mountains  of  Moab ;  their 
shape  and  color  changing  each  moment  before  the  kindling  warmth  as 
they  rose  from  the  hollows  of  the  landscape,  and  then  up  the  slopes  of 
the  hills,  till  they  passed  in  opal  or  snowy  brightness  into  the  upper 
air,  and  at  last  faded  into  the  unclouded  sky. 

The  amount  of  moisture  thus  poured  on  the  thirsty  vegetation  dur- 
ing the  night  is  very  great.  Tent  coverings  are  often  soaked  with  it 
as  if  there  had  been  a  heavy  rain,  and  a  bright  moon  frequently  creates 
the  striking  spectacle  of  a  lunar  rainbow.  "Dew  "  seemed  to  the  Isra- 
elites a  mysterious  gift  of  Heaven,  as  indeed  it  is.  "  Who  has  begotten 
the  drops  of  dew  ?  "  is  one  of  the  questions  put  to  Job  by  the  Almighty 
Himself.*  That  the  skies  should  be  stayed  from  yielding  it  was  a 
special  sign  of  Divine  wrath,*  and  there  could  be  no  more  gracious 
conception  of  a  loving  farewell  address  to  his  people  than  where  Moses 
tells  them  that  his  "  speech  "  should  "  distil  as  the  dew."  Gideon's 
fleece,  out  of  which  a  bowlful  of  dew  was  wrung,  was  a  symbol  famil- 
iar to  the  great  citizen-soldier ;  and  no  imprecation  more  terrible  could 
be  uttered  against  Mount  Gilboa,  defiled  by  the  death  of  Saul  and  Jona- 
than, than  that  no  "dew"  should  fall  on  it  henceforth.'*  Hushai,  in 
his  subtle,  misleading  counsel  to  Absalom,  could  suggest  no  more  strik- 
ing image  of  the  silent  surprise  of  David  by  irresistible  numbers  than 

1  Gen.  xxxi.  40.  2  Hos.  y1.  4.  Batlter,  tbe  "dew  wbiob  early."  3  JoD  muctUI.  28,  4  Bagg.  1, 
10;  1  Kings  xvU.1.   6  2Sani.  i.2L 


62 


THE   HOLY  LAND  AND  THE   BIBLE. 


[Chap. 


that  the  gathered  multitude  of  Israel  would  fall  upon  him  as  the  "  dew  " 
t'Hlleili  on  the  ground.^  Job  pictures  his  hopes  of  abiding  prosperity 
by  the  prayer  tliat  "  his  root"  would  spread  out  beside  the  [irrigating] 
waters,  and  that  the  " dew "  would  lie  "all  night  on  his  branch."* 
Tlie  youths  of  Israel,  as  of  all  nations,  were  her  "dew."*  Tiie  favor 
of  an  Oriental  monarch  could  not  be  more  beneficially  conceived  than 
by  saying  that,  while  "  his  wrath  is  like  th  )  roaring  of  a  lion,  his  favor 
is  as  dew  upon  the  grass."*  The  "head"  of  the  Beloved  "is  filled 
with  dew,  and  his  locks  with  the  drops  of  the  night."*  Isaiah,  speak- 
ing of  the  advance  of  the  Assyrians  against  Jerusalem  and  Judah,  shows 
that  he  too  had  noticed  the  mists  that  rest  on  the  wide  plains  and 
sweeping  valleys  during  the  nights  of  the  hot  months,  for  he  says,  if 
we  may  expand  his  words  so  as  to  give  their  force  more  clearly  than 
it  appears  in  the  Authorized  Version :  "  I  will  keep  my  eyes  on  them 
through  the  whole  summer,  while  the  unclouded  sunshine  ripens  the 
herbs,  and  the  night  mists  temper  the  heat  of  harvest."  *  Any  one 
who  has  ever  watched  the  white  morning  fog  in  harvest-time,  in  Pal- 
estine, when  at  sunrise  it  was  quite  impossible  to  see  any  distance 
round,  and  the  villagers,  driving  their  flocks  afield,  could  only  with 
infinite  trouble  prevent  their  being  lost  in  the  mist;  shouts  and  uproar 
rising  on  all  sides,  as  camels,  horses,  donkeys,  cows,  goats,  and  sneep, 
were  urged  off  through  the  hazy  sea  of  vapor;  must  have  felt  that, 
thougb  painfully  chilly  by  night,  it  tempered  the  air  in  the  early  day, 
till  the  fierce  sun  hau  drunk  up  the  moisture.  "  Awake  and  sing," 
cries  Isaiah,  "  ye  that  dwell  in  dust:  for  thy  dew  is  as  the  dew  of  herbs, 
and  tbe  earth  shall  cast  out  the  dead ! " '  He  thinks  of  the  sad  con- 
dition of  Palestine  when  the  exiles  return  from  Babylon,  its  slaught- 
ered multitudes  lying  asleep  in  the  dust  around  them;  and  in  a  burst 
of  patriotic  fervor,  clothed  in  poetical  metaphor,  cries  out,  "  O  that  thy 
dead  bodies  could  arise  I  Awake  and  sing,  ye  dwellers  in  the  dust  of 
the  grave  1  For  thy  dew — the  favor  of  Jehovah — gives  life,  as  the  dew 
of  herbs  revives  the  glebe,  and  through  its  mighty  power  the  earth 
shall  bring  to  life  the  dead  1 "  How  blessed  the  assurance,  finally,  in 
the  precious  promise:  " I  will  be  as  the  dew  unto  Israel! "®  i 

The  melon  district  reaches  to  the  stream  El-Falik,  a  short  perennial 
river,  little  more  than  a  mile  in  length,  issuing  from  great  marshes 
behind.  Just  above  it  a  tongue  of  sand  runs  two  miles  inland,  the  low 
hills  farther  east  being  thinly  dotted  with  oak-trees  of  good  size — the 
remains  of  the  old  Crusading  forest  of  Assup.  North  of  Mukhalid  the 
country  belongs  to  a  tribe  of  Arabs,  who,  tliough  few  in  number,  claim 
to  have  formerly  held  all  the  land  between  Tiberias  and  Caesarea,  Car- 
mel  and  Beisan.    To  the  south  of  the  village,  however,  the  Nefeiah, 

1  2  Sam.  xvii.  12.  2  Job  zxix.  19.  S  Ps.  ex.  3.  4  Prov.  xix.  12.  6  Cant.  v.  2.  6  Isa.  XTiii.  4. 
Qeikle,  Hours  wUh  the  SfUe,  vol.  iv..  p.  445.  7.  Isa.  xxvi.  19.  Gelkle,  Bmr»  v/Oh  the  Btbte,  vol.  v.,  p. 
44.  8Aos.xiv.6.  f  .  11' 


iv.j 


CJJSAREA — ATHLIT. 


U8 


or  Club-bearing  Arabs — a  rough  set — swarm  in  the  marshes  and  wood* 
lands.  The  landscape  round  is  a  great  rolling  plain,  with  low  slopes 
varying  its  monotony ;  its  height  above  the  sea  IVom  160  to  200  feet, 
while  hills  of  blown  sand  stretch  all  along  the  shore,  to  varying  dis- 
tances inland,  except  where  streams  force  their  way  through  tnem. 
At  some  points,  however,  the  shore  rises  in  bluftk  nearly  to  the  level 
of  the  plain  behind,  and  these,  where  they  oouur,  are  a  great  preserva- 
tive of  the  soil,  preventing  the  sand  from  blowing  over  it.  Bound  the 
maishes  the  pasturage  is  excellent  in  spring,  and  hence  Sharon  was 
famous  in  Jewish  historj^  as  the  feeding-ground  for  the  royal  flocks 
and  herds.  In  David's  time  these  were  under  a  head  shepherd,  him- 
self a  Sharon  man— one  Shitrai.^  The  pastures  of  Sharon  were,  indeed, 
famous  from  the  earliest  times,  and  haa  a  king  in  Joshua's  day,^  while 
after  the  Hebrew  invasion  they  seem  for  a  time  to  have  been  in  the 
hands  of  the  tribe  of  Gad,'  but  the  desolation  spread  over  them  by  the 
"overflowing  flood"  of  Sennacherib's  invasion  la  bewailed  by  Isaiah,* 
who,  by  the  way,  like  all  Old  Testament  writers,  always  speaks  of 
'•  the  Sharon,"  meaning  the  whole  plain  fVom  Carmel  to  Joppa.  Before 
this  ruin  by  the  Assyrian  it  must  have  been  specially  prosperous,  for 
"  the  excellency  of  Carmel  and  Sharon  "  is  the  prophet's  ideal  of  luxu- 
riant fertility,^  and  the  full  joy  of  the  Messianic  Kingdom  is,  iu  part, 
imaged  by  Sharon  being  so  restored  that  it  would  become  once  more 
"  a  fold  of  flocks."* 

Bound  the  few  villages  in  the  plain  there  are  generally  patches  of 
com,  vegetables,  or  olives ;  but  by  far  the  greater  part  of  the  soil  is 
uncultivated.  El-Fslik  is  approached  through  a  wild  tangle  of  haw- 
thorn, dwarf  oak,  arbutus,  and  rue,  and  its  short  course  is  fringed  by 
the  Syrian  papyrus  reed,  which  looks  at  a  distance  like  a  dwarfed 
palm-tree,  and  by  thickets  of  oleanders  and  other  shrubs.  The  name 
of  the  place  means  "  the  Cutting,"  and  has  been  given  it  fVom  its  being 
only  an  artificial  drain,  made  to  lower  the  water  iu  the  marshes.  An 
uninhabited  sandy  ground  with  undulating  surface  succeeds,  stretching 
nearly  five  miles  south  in  a  treeless  and  liouseless  desolation.  Reeds 
and  rushes  spring  beside  stagnant  pools ;  patches. of-thistles  and  coarse 
grass  are  the  main  growths.  Some  pines,  indeed,  are  to  be  seen  on  the 
sandy  slopes ;  but  they  are  rare  and  small.  A  few  mud  huts  here  and 
there,  offering  shelter  to  shepherds  from  the  heat  by  day  and  the  cold 
by  night,  when  they  chose  to  take  advantage  of  them,  are  the  only 
apologies  for  human  habitations. 

Arsuf,  the  Apollonia  of  Josephus,'  lies  on  the  shore  between  five  and 
six  miles  south  of  El-Falik ;  but  there  was  nothing  to  detain  us  at  its 
ruins  except  a  tr.nnel  near  it,  cut  for  535  feet  through  the  rocks,  by 

1 1  Chiou.  xxvii.  29.  2  Josh.  xii.  18.  3  1  Chron.  v.  16.   For  "suburbs '*r««d**pMtttrM."  4  Ian, 
;aixill.9.  6Isa.xxzv.2.  6l8a.UT.10.  7  Jo8.iiiU.,xUi,l&,4, 


^ 


54 


THE   HOLY  LAND  ANI>  THE  UIBLE. 


[GnAP. 


the  Romans,  I  suppose,  with  an  air-sliaft  half-way;  the  object  being 
to  drain  a  great  marsli  beiiind.  Now,  however,  it  only  shows  the 
difference  between  the  past  and  the  present  in  Sharon,  for  it  has  ages 
ago  become  useless,  the  sand  having  choked  it  up  for  centuries. 
Between  this  point  and  the  river  Aujoli,  live  or  six  miles  north  of 
Joppa,  there  was  only  one  small  village,  a  j)oor  place,  with  a  well  and 
a  ram-tank,  near  which  stood  two  or  three  trees ;  a  carob  or  locust-tree 
among.them.  It  was  from  the  pods  of  this  tlmt  the  Prodigal  sought  a 
poor  sustenance  when  feeding  his  master's  swine  :*  the  lowest  possible 
occupation  for  a  Jew,  since  the  employer  must  have  been  a  heathen, 
and  the  swine  were,  in  themselves,  an  abomination  to  an  Israelite. 
The  thick  foliage  of  the  tree,  of  a  deep  green,  with  very  dark,  glossy, 
evergreen  leaves,  rising  to  a  height  of  about  twenty  or  thirty  feet,  like 
a  large  apple-tree,  makes  it  a  striking  object  in  the  bare  landscape  of 
Palestine.  In  February  it  is  covered  with  innumerable  purple-red 
pendent  blossoms,  which  ripen  in  April  and  May  into  huge  crops  of 
pods  from  six  to  ten  inches  long,  flat,  brown,  narrow,  and  bent  like 
a  horn,i  with  a  sweetish  taste  when  still  unripe.  Enormous  quanti- 
ties of  these  are  gathered  for  sale  in  the  various  towns,  and  for  expor- 
tation ;  England,  among  other  places,  taking  large  consignments ;  their 
name  in  this  country  being  locust  beans.  I  have  often  seen  them  on 
stalls  in  Eastern  cities,  where  they  are  used  as  food  by  the  very  i)oor- 
est,  but  chiefly  to  fatten  pigs  if  there  be  Christians  in  the  neighbor- 
hood, or  for  horses  and  cattle.  That  they  were  eaten  as  human  food, 
though  only  by  the  poorest  of  the  poor,  in  the  time  of  our  Lord,  is 
incidentally  proved  by  their  being  mentioned  by  both  Horace  and 
JuvenaP  as  thus  used.  The  Prodigal  very  likely  drove  his  herd  below 
the  trees,  as  is  still  frequently  the  custom,  to  let  them  eat  the  ])ods, 
which  fall  off"  as  soon  as  they  are  dry.  It  is  curious  to  remember  that 
the  bean  found  in  the  pod  gave  its  name  to  the  smallest  Hebrew 
weight — the  geiah,  twenty  of  which  made  a  shekel.* 

Tlie  monks  in  the  Middle  Ages,  unwilling  to  believe  that  John  the 
Baptist  fed  upon  locusts,  came  to  the  conclusion  that  this  pod^  was 
meant,  and  gave  the  tree  the  name  of  St.  John's  Bread.  There  can, 
however,  be  no  doubt  that  the  well-known  insect  was  really  intended, 
since  it  is  still  eaten  extensively  by  the  Arabs  and  others.  "  The 
Bedouins  eat  locusts,"  snys  Burckhardt,  the  greatest  of  travellers, 
"which  are  collected  in  great  quantities  in  the  beginning  of  April, 
when  the  sexes  cohabit,  and  they  are  easily  caught.  After  having 
been  roasted  a  little  on  the  iron  plate  on  which  bread  is  baked,  they 
are  dried  in  the  sun,  and  then  put  into  large  sacks  with  the  mixture  of 

1  Luke  XT.  16.  2  Hence  the  Greek  name  of  the  tree,  Ktpina,  from  Ktpinov  "n,  little  horn." 
8  Horace  (born  B.  o.  65,  died  b.  g.  8),  JEpist.,  Bk.  II.,  1.  123 ;  Juvenal  (born  about  a.  d.  40,  died 
aboat  A.  s.  120),  Sat.,  xi.  58.  Bochart  in  his  Hierozoicon,  t.  708,  has  a  very  learned  article  on  the 
carob.  4Bx.  zxx.lS;Ley.  xzvU.25:  Ezek.  xlv.  12.  6  Maundrell :  8th  ecution,  Lond.  1810,  p.  laL 


n  the 
^  was 


And  the  fortress  of  the  high 
fort  of  thy  walls  shall  he  bring 
down,  lay  low,  and  bring  to  the 
Rround,  even  to  the  dust.— Isa, 
XXV.  13. 

Thorns  shall  come  up  in  her 
palaces,  nettles  and  brambles 
in  the  fortresses  thereof ;  and  it 
shall  be  an  habitation  of  drag- 
ons, and  a  court  for  owls. — ha. 
xxxiv.  13. 

Thou  hast  broken  down  all 
his  hedges ;  thou  hast  brought 
his  strong  holds  toruin.— Psa. 
Ixxxix.  40. 


RUINS  OF  A  FORTRESS  AT  RAS-EL-AIN.    (See  page  40.) 


I  horn." 
.  40,  died 
lie  on  the 

io,p.iai. 


iv.i 


OjISAREA  athlit. 


06 


a  little  salt.  They  are  never  served  up  us  a  dish,  but  every  one  takes 
a  handful  of  them  when  hungry.  Tlie  peasants  of  Syria  do  not  eat 
locusts,  nor  have  I  myself  had  an  opportunity  of  tasting  them ;  there 
are  a  few  poor  fellahs  m  the  Haurfin,  however,  who  sometimes,  pressed 
by  liunger.  make  a  meal  of  them ;  but  they  break  off  the  head  and 
take  out  the  entrails  before  they  dry  them  in  the  sun.  The  Bedouins 
swallow  them  entire."*  Writing  elsewhere  of  the  Arabs  of  other 
mgioiis,  he  says,  "All  the  Bedouins  of  Arabia,  and  the  inhabitants  of 
towns  in  Nejd  and  Hodjaz,  are  accustomed  to  eat  locusts,  I  have 
Hecn,  at  Medina  and  Tuyf,  locust  shops,  where  theue  animals  were  sold 
by  meRMuru.  In  Egypt  and  Nubia  they  are  only  eaten  by  the  poorest 
beggars.  The  Araos,  in  preparing  them  for  food,  throw  them  alive 
into  boiling  water,  with  which  a  good  deal  of  salt  has  been  mixed. 
Afler  a  few  minutes  they  are  taken  out  and  dried  in  tiie  sun ;  the  head, 
teet,  and  wings  are  then  torn  off;  the  bodies  are  cleansed  from  the  salt 
and  perfectly  dried,  after  which  process  whole  sacks  are  filled  with 
them  by  the  Bedouin.  They  are  sometimes  eaten  boiled  in  butter, 
and  they  often  contribute  materials  for  a  breakfast,  when  spread  over 
unleavened  bread,  mixed  with  butter."  Dr.  Kitto,  who  tried  locusts, 
says  they  taste  very  much  like  shrimps.  St.  John  may  well  have 
eaten  them,  since  his  life  in  the  wildeniess  left  him  no  source  of  richer 
food.  Wild  honey  he  could  obtain  in  abundance  from  trees  and  clefts 
in  the  rooks. 

The  river  Aujeh  is  the  largest  stream  in  the  plain  of  Sharon,  wind- 
ing across  it  from  beneath  the  mound  of  Ras-el-Ain — the  ancient 
Antipatris,  close  to  the  hills,  which  are  about  ten  miles  off,  in  a 
straight  line.  It  is  strong  enough  to  have  made  a  permanent  opening 
through  the  sand-hills,  and  is  never  dammed  up  oy  them  like  some 
weaker  streams  on  the  plain,  which  become  marshes  in  the  dry  season, 
though  in  winter,  when  swollen  by  the  rains,  they  gain  force  enough 
to  break  through  again  to  the  sea.  A  dam  over  the  river  turns  aside 
a  powerful  current,  which  drives  twelve  pairs  of  stones,  most  of  them 
busy  when  I  passed,  grinding  flour  for  customers.  The  splash  of  the 
water  as  it  fell  in  white  waves  from  the  restless  wheels  and  rushed  to 
join  the  main  stream  was  delightful  in  such  a  climate.  The  river  is 
perhaps  twenty  yards  broad,  and  of  a  good  depth. 

A  short  distance  outside  Joppa  lies  the  German  village  of  Sarona, 
called  after  the  plain  in  which  it  stands.  On  the  way  we  passed  two 
long  strings  of  camels,  one  laden  with  oil  in  black  skin  bottles  from 
Nablus;  the  other  with  bags  of  rice  from  the  same  town.  It  was 
doubtless  in  similar  skin  jars,  if  I  may  use  the  word,  that  King  Men- 
ahem  of  Samaria,  while  professing  to  be  loyal  to  Assyria,  sent  gifts  of 
oil  to  Pharaoh,  in  Egypt,  the  hereditary  foe  of  the  Assyrian,^  to  secure 

1  Burokhardt,  iS^ria,  4to,  p.  239.   2H08.  xii.  1.  Oelkie,  irour«wiM(A«.Bafe,  Iv.  ii6Bii 


tW-.W-aB'A.lNlii 


66 


THE   HOLY  LAND  AND  THE   BIBLE. 


[Chap. 


his  support.  They  are  made  of  the  entire  skin  of  a  he-goat,  the  places 
where  the  legs  and  tail  have  been,  being  carefully  sewn  up,  and  an 
opening  left  at  the  neck,  large  enough  to  form  a  mouth,  for  filling  and 
emptying.  To  enable  them  to  resist  the  heat  of  the  sun,  and  to  keep 
them  soft,  they  are  smeared  with  oil. 

The  German  colony  is  now  firmly  established  and  prosperous,  but 
as  many  as  fifty  poor  Teutons  died  before  they  could  be  acclimatized. 
A  "town-house"  of  wood,  a  wind-mill  used  for  pumping,  a  town  clock, 
wheeled  vehicles,  a  forge,  European  ploughs  guided  by  native  peasants 
but  drawn  by  horses,  a  factory  for  all  kinds  of  wooden  machinery  and 
implements,  from  wagons  to  plough-handles,  a  manufactory  of  tiles  and 
of  artificial  stone,  and  other  forms  of  Western  energy  and  skill,  showed 
the  difference  between  Europeans  and  Asiatics. 

I  rested  at  the  house  of  one  of  the  chief  settlers,  a  large  commodious 
stone  building,  with  a  deep  well  under  a  shed  close  by,  supplying 
abundant  water,  which  was  raised  by  oxen  in  an  endless  chain  of 
buckets,  set  in  motion  by  a  horizontal  wheel;  it  is  used  for  household 
purposes,  and  for  irrigatmg  the  garden  and  contiguous  ground.  Vines 
from  American  plants  are  extensively  grown  in  the  settlement,  those 
of  the  country  being  liable  to  disease.  A  welcome,  simple  and  hearty, 
was  accorded  me,,  and  I  left  for  Joppa  not  a  little  refreshed  by  the 
home-made  bread  and  butter,  both  excellent,  with  milk.  My  friend 
had  some  of  the  local  wine,  and  pronounced  it  excellent.  The  sandy 
road,  nowhere  "made,"  was  at  times  pretty  rough,  in  the  hollows 
washed  out  by  winter  storms.  Red  anemones,  bunches  of  lupins  from 
last  year's  sowing,  and  tufts  of  squills  brightened  the  open  ground  as 
we  drove  on;  but  Sharon,  at  its  best,  is  very  far  from  coming  up  to 
English  ideas  of  fertility  and  beauty. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  PHILISTINE  PLAIN  AND  SAMSON'S  COUNTRY. 

Leaving  Joppa,  with  its  strange  crowds,  my  last  reminiscences  of  it 
are  made  up  of  a  confused  dream  of  masons  sitting  cross-legged,  chip- 
ping  stones  from  Caesarea,  for  the  new  Christian  hospital;  stone- 
breakers  squatted  in  the  same  way  across  half  the  market-place,  frac- 
turing obdurate  metal  in  stone  mortars,  to  spread  on  the  road ;  strings 
of  donkeys  and  camels  moving  hither  or  thither,  and  a  general  hub- 
bub of  buyer  and  seller  filling  the  air.    A  four-wheeled  vehicle  had 


^ 


a  of  it 
,  chip- 
stone- 
},  frac- 
trings 
Ihub. 
le  had 


a 


SI] 


th 


coil 

th( 


V4 


THE  PHILISTINE  PLAIN  AND  SAMSON's  COUNLRT. 


61 


been  hired  for  my  journey:  a  rough  open  aflfair,  screened  at  the  roof 
and  sides  with  canvas  to  keep  off  the  sun.  The  driver  wore  a  felt 
skull-cap,  dignified  into  a  makeshift  turban  by  f  >ocket-handkerchief 
twisted  round  it.  His  coat,  worn  over  a  blue  blouse,  was  of  woolen 
stuff,  fancifully  ornamented  down  the  back  with  crimson,  while  the 
arms  were  of  c  ue  pattern  to  the  elbow,  and  another  below  it.  Lebanon 
had  the  credit  or  its  manufacture,  though  it  would  have  been  very 
hard  to  say  through  how  many  hands  it  nray  have  passed  before  it 
reached  those  of  our  Jehu.  Three  horses,  veritable  screws,  but  wiry 
withal,  drew  us;  two  of  them  boasting  headstalls  and  collars,  made 
useful  if  not  ornamental  by  a  free  application  of  pieces  of  rope;  the 
third  arrayed  in  nothing  at  all  but  some  ropes.  Of  course  each  animal 
had  its  galls  and  raw  places;  no  horse  used  in  harness  in  Palestine  is 
without  them,  for  there  is  no  law  against  cruelty  to  animals,  and  no 
pity  in  the  native  heart  towards  dumb  creatures  to  supply  its  place. 

South  of  Joppa,  the  coast-plain  was  the  country  of  the  Philistines, 
whose  name,  the  "immigrants,"  has,  curiously,  given  us  that  of  "Pal- 
estine." It  was  the  part  of  Judaea  earliest  and  best  known  to  the 
Greeks,  who  entered  the  land  mainly,  at  first,  fi'om  Egypt.  Hence,  as 
the  Romans  gave  the  name  of  Asia  and  Africa,  respectively,  to  the 
two  provinces  they  first  gained  on  these  two  continents,  and,  as  the 
English  gave  the  name  of  Dutch,  though  it  belongs  to  the  whole 
German  race,  to  the  people  of  Holland,  who  lay  next  their  own  shores, 
"Philistia"  became  the  Gentile  name  of  the  entire  Holy  Land,  in  the 
form  of  "Palestine."! 

The  Philistines,  as  the  translation  of  their  name  in  the  Greek  Bible^ 
shows,  were  of  a  different  race  from  the  peoples  who  were  in  Canaan 
before  their  appearance  among  them.  Their  territory  reached  from  a 
little  below  Joppa,  which  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  Phoenicians,  to 
a  little  below  Gaza,  along  the  coast,  and  back  to  the  hills  of  Judaea:  a 
district  hardly  fifty  miles  in  its  full  length,  or  half  that  in  its  extreme 
breadth.  Palestine,  as  a  whole,  it  must  be  remembered,  is  a  very 
small  country.  The  prophet  Amos*  tells  us  the  Philistines  came  from 
Caphtor,  ;-at  is,  the  island  of  Crete,  and  we  read  elsewhere,  respecting 
"the  Avim  which  dwelt  in  Hazerim  [or  villages],  even  unto  Gaza" — that 
''the  Caphtorim,  which  came  out  of  Caphtor,  destroyed  them,  and 
dwelt  in  their  stead."*  The  Avim  were  one  of  the  original  peoples  of 
Palestine,  who  had  been  driven  to  the  extreme  south  of  the  country  by 
the  Canaanites.  In  part  enslaving  these,  in  part  driving  them  out,  the 
Philistines  took  possession  of  their  district.  They  had  not,  however, 
come  direct  from  Crete,  but  had  previously  been  settled  at  Cassiotis — 
the  territory  of  the  Casluchim,^  on  the  Egyptian  coast,  whence  salt 

1  mnaiandP(aeaine,p.W&.  2.  AUophyloWmenofanothertilbe."  &  Aino6ix.7.  4.   Dent. 
ii.23.   6  Gen.  18, 14. 


5d 


tHE  HOLT  LAND  AKD  THE  BlBLfi. 


tO&AP. 


was  exported  for  the  dry-fish  trade  from  the  ports  of  the  Nile  Delta.* 
Thence  the^  wandered  north  to  the  more  fruitful  sea-coast  plains  of 
Canaan,  which,  from  their  position,  had  great  attractions  for  a  keenly 
commercial  people,  as  it  tapped  at  once  the  caravan  trade  with  the 
east  and  south,  and  the  sea  trade  with  the  west.  Hence,  already  in 
the  time  of  Abraham,  their  king  Abimelech  had  his  seat  at  Gerar,  in 
the  fartherest  south  of  the  land,  and  boasted  a  chief  of  his  fighting 
men,  and  a  council  bearing  strange  titles.'*  In  a  subsequent  generation, 
about  the  year  b.  c.  1920,3  the  Hebrews  went  down  into  Egypt,  from 
which  they  only  returned  after  a  residence  of  430  years.  By  this  time 
the  Philistines  had  grown  so  strong  that  God  would  not  allow  His 
people  to  go  up  to  Canaan  by  the  direct  and  easy  caravan  route,  still 
in  use,  because  it  would  have  brought  them  into  confiict  with  so  war- 
like a  race;  but  led  them  by  the  circuitous  route  of  the  desert.* 

After  the  Hebrew  conquest  of  Central  Palestine,  three  of  the  Philis- 
tine cities — Ekron,  Ascalon,  and  Gaza — were  taken  in  the  first 
enthusiasm  of  the  invaders,  and  held  for  a  time  by  Judah,  to  whom  the 
sea-coast  plain  had  been  assigned  by  Joshua.^  They  were,  however, 
lost  before  that  leader's  death,*  and  henceforth,  for  200  years,  even  the 
name  of  the  race  is  seldom  mentioned  in  the  Sacred  Books.' 

That  there  was  a  hereditary  enmity  between  them  and  the  Hebrews, 
appears  however  in  the  incidental  iiotice  of  one  of  the  Judges — Sham- 
gar — having  slain  600  Philistines  with  the  massive  ox-goad,  shod  with 
iron,  still  common  in  those  parts.^  But  towards  the  end  of  the  period 
of  the  Judges,^  the  history  of  Samson  brings  the  nation  into  promi- 
nence as  the  most  dangerous  and  dreaded  enemies  of  Israel,  which 
they  continued  to  be  till  the  reign  of  David,  who  broke  their  power 
so  completely  that  he  was  able  to  form  an  old  and  young  body-guard 
— known  as  the  Crethi  and  Plethi — from  among  them.^®  From  this 
time  they  were  only  at  intervals  independent  of  the  Hebrews,  and  they 
finally  vanished  as  a  people,  under  the  iron  sway  of  the  Assyrians, 
Babylonians,  Persians,  and  Syrians,  in  succession. 

The  few  remains  of  their  language  and  religion  show  that  this 
remarkable  people  were  of  Semitic  race,  though  colored  to  a  large 
extent  by  Grecian  influences,  from  their  temporary  residence  in  Crete. 
Fierce  and  fond  of  war,  they  had  the  genius  of  military  organization 
peculiar  to  the  West;  always  ready  with  disciplined  battalions  for  any 
quarrel.  Nor  were  they  less  keen  as  traders;  their  favorable  position 
on  the  coast  enabling  them  to  become,  in  some  measure,  rivals  of  the 
Phoenicians.  Of  their  politcal  constitution  we  know  only  that  their 
territory  was  divided  into  five  small  districts,  respectively  under  the 
chiefs  of  five  cities — Ekron,  Gath,  Ashdod,  Ascalon,  and*  Gaza.     Of 

1  Ebers,  Egypten  und  die  Buclwr  Mom,  p.  121.  2.Gen.  xx.  2;  xxi.  32;  xxvl.  1,  2d.  »  Riehm,  d. 
1196.  4  Ext^.  xiii.  17  5  Josh.  xv.  45.  6  Josh.  xlii.  2.  7  Josh.  xili.  2;  XT.  46;  Judg.  L  18;  iil.S. 
8  Judg.  Hi.  81.   9  About  B.  c.  1250.   10  1  Sam.  xxx.  14 ;  Ezek.  xxv.  16;  Zeph.  11. 6. 


J? 


4^ 


tOBAP. 


elta.^ 
lins  of 
ceenly 
th  the 
ady  in 
irar,  in 
ghting 
sration, 
t,  from 
is  time 
)W  His 
ite,  still 
so  war- 

Philis- 
he  first 
bom  the 
lowever, 
3ven  the 

lebrews, 
p-Sham- 
lod  with 
\Q  period 
o  promi- 
b1,  which 
iir  power 
dy-gnard 
i'rom  this 
and  they 
Assyrians, 

that  this 
to  a  large 
5  in  Crete, 
^anization 
ns  for  any 
le  position 
^rals  of  the 
that  their 
under  the 
Gaza.    Of 

»  Riehm,  5. 
idg-i-lSsllt-* 


v.] 


THE  PHILISTINE   PLAIN  AND  SAMS0N*S  COUNTRY. 


5d 


their  religion  all  that  has  come  down  to  us  is  that  the  god  Beelzebub 
was  worshipped  at  Ekron,  Dagon  at  Gaza  and  Ashdod,^  and,  at  a  later 
period,  the  goddess  Derketo  in  Ascalon.^ 

The  present  population  of  Palestine  is,  doubtless,  lai'gely  represen- 
tative, in  the  various  districts,  of  the  ancient  races  of  the  land,  so  that 
Philistine  blood  in  the  people  of  the  old  Philistine  country  may  per- 
haps, in  part,  account  for  their  being  much  more  Egyptian,  in  their 
ways  and  dress,  than  those  around  them;    the  Philistines,  as  we  have 
seen,  having  originally  come  from  Crete,  through  Egypt.     There  were, 
however,  many  other  ^^tionalities  in  the  land  in  Joshua's  day.     The 
Hittites — possibly  a  small' branch  of  the  mighty  Cheta  of  the  Egyptian 
monuments,  whose  power,  at  its  highest,  reached  from  the  Grecian 
Archipelago  to  Carchemish,  on  the  Euphrates — lived  in  and  round 
Hebron,  in  i\)e  time  of  Abraham,*  and,  in  that  of  Moses,  among  the 
mountains  of  Judah  and  Ephraim,*  and  were  still  in  existence  in  the 
days  of  Ezra.^     The  Girgashi,  or  "dwellers  on  the  clay-land,"  -were  a 
tribe  otherwise  unknown.®     The  Amorites,  or  "dwellers  on  the  hills," 
were,  perhaps,  the  greatest  of  the  Canaanite  races,  one  part  of  tliem 
living  on  the  mountains  of  Judah,'  which  they  divided  into  five  petty 
kingdoms;®  another  branch,  on  the  east  of  Jordan,  in  the  northern 
part  of  Moab,  divided  by  them  into  the  two  "kingdoms"  of  Heshbon 
and  Bashan.®     It  was  of  their  towns,  on  the  top  of  the  hills,  in  what 
was  afterwards  Judaea,  that  the  Hebrew  spies  spoke  as  being  "  walled 
up  to  heaven."^®    Then  there  were  the  Canaanites,  or  "dwellers  in  the 
lowlands,"  that  is,  the  coast,  and  in  the  depression  of  the  Jordan.    The 
name  was  used  also,  in  a  wider  sense,  of  the  Phoenicians,  and  from 
that  race  being  the  great  business  people  of  the  Old  World,  came  after- 
wards to  mean  "  traders."  ^^    Besides  these,  we  read  of  the  Perizzites, 
or  "peasants,"   in  contrast   to  dwellers  in   towns;   the   Hivites,  or 
"dwellers  in  villages;"   and  the  Jebusites,  or  "threshing-floor  people," 
in  allusion,  apparently,  to  the  early  use  of  the  top  of  Moint  Mori  all  |^ 
Jerusalem  as  a  threshing-floor ;  ^^  this  being  the  one  spot  on  which  irl 
find  them.    These  are  spoken  of,  perhaps  in  the  aggregate,  as.nations 
"greater  and  mightier"  than  the  Hebrews  at  the  time  of  their  invasion 
of  Palestine.^*    But  since  those  early  days  many  additional  races  have 
occupied  portions  of  the  land,  and  intermarriages  in  the  course  of  many 
ages  must  have  united  the  blood  of  a  great  many  nationalities  in  the 
veins  of  the  present  population. 

Asses,  laden  with  cabbages  for  market,  passed  us  as  we  drove  on 
from  Joppa  over  a  track  in  the  hard  sand;  some  veiled  women,  also, 
with  baskets  of  lemons  on  their  heads.    They  carry  everything  thus, 

1  2Klnesi.2;Judg.  xvi  29:  ISam.  v.l.  2  2  Mace.  xli.  96/  3  Gen.  xxiil.  4  Num.  xili.  29 ;  Josh. 
Xl.  3.  SEzralx.  1.  6  DtJO.  vil.  1.  7  Gen.  xlv.  7, 13 ;  Num.  xlll.  29.  8  Josh.  X.  5.  9Num.  xxi.13; 
Deut.  Iv.  47;  Josh  it.  10;  xxiv.  12.  10  Deut.  1.  S8.  11  Job  xli.  6.  The  word  "merchants"  is 
"Canaanites"  in  the  Heb.,  so  In  Prov.  xxxi.  24.   12  2  Sam.  xxlv.  lS-28.   18  Deut.  yU. 


60 


THE  ttoLY  Land  and  the  bible. 


ttVkP. 


and  owe  to  their  doing  so  an  erectness  of  carriage  which  their  sisters 
in  the  West  might  well  envy.  More  asses,  laden  with  sand,  followed; 
women  with  black  veils,  girls  with  milk,  which  they  carry  in  jars  on 
their  shoulder,  as  they  do  water.  Married  women  carry  their  little 
children  thus,  in  many  cases.  Sometimes,  indeed,  you  meet  little 
children,  perhaps  still  unweaned,  carried  by  their  mother  on  her  hips, 
just  as  Isaiah  says,  "Thy  daughters  shall  be  nuised  at  thy  side."^  A 
Bedouin  in  a  striped  "abba"  and  bright  "kefiyeh,"  or  head-shawl,  kept 
in  its  place  by  the  usual  circlet  of  soft  oamel's-ljair  rope  going  twice 
round  the  head:  his  seat,  the  hump  of  a  oanel;  with  other  camels 
carrying  back  to  their  villages  loads  of  empiy  sacks,  in  which  they 
iiad  taken  grain  to  Joppa  or  elsewhere,  made  us  next  turn  aside.  The 
men  of  to-day  thus  still  carry  their  riches  on  the  shoulders  of  young 
asses,  and  their  treasures  upon  the  bunches  of  camels,  as  in  the  days 
of  Isaiah; 2  so  little  have  the  customs  of  the  East  changed,  after  so 
many  centuries. 

Immense  mounds  of  finely  broken-up  straw  for  fodder  are  to  be  seen 
everywhere  in  Egypt,  and  this  fodder  is  common,  also,  in  Palestine. 
Strings  of  camels  passed  towards  Joppa  as  we  went  on,  with  huge  bags 
of  it  balanced  on  each  side  of  their  humps.  It  is  the  only  dry  food 
for  horses  or  cattle  in  Western  Asia,  and  is  largely  used,  also,  in  the 
valley  of  the  Nile.  The  name  given  to  it  is  "teben" — the  same, 
to-day,  as  in  the  days  of  the  patriarchs.  When  the  grain  is  trampled 
out  on  the  open-air  threshing-floors,  by  the  feet  of  cattle  or  by  the 
sharp  stone  or  iron  teeth  underneath  the  threshing-sledge,'  the  straw  is 
nt  :«ssarily  broken  or  cut  into  very  small  pieces.  These  are  the 
"teben"  of  which  we  often  read  in  the  Bible.  Rebekah  told  Eliezer, 
Abraham's  servant,  that  her  brother  had  both  "teben  and  provender"* 
for  his  camels.  The  children  of  Israel  in  Egypt  were  refused  "  teben  " 
to  mix  with  the  clay  of  the  bricks  they  had  to  make.^  The  Levite 
saw  abundance  of  "teben  and  provender  for  his  asses"  in  Gibeah, 
tboQgh  so  inhospitably  received.^  Barley  and  "teben"  had  to  be 
provided  by  the  rural  community  for  the  common  horses,  and  also  for 
those  of  a  swifter  and  finer  breed,  belonging  to  Solomon."^  The  wicked, 
says  Job,  are  "  as  teben  before  the  wind,  and  as  chaff  that  the  storm 
carrieth  away."*  Leviathan  is  said  to  esteem  "iron  as  teben,  and 
brass  as  rotten  wood."®  In  the  days  of  the  Messiah  "the  lion  shall 
eat  teben  like  the  ox."i®  The  Word  of  God  by  His  true  prophets,  we 
read  in  Jeremiah,  was  as  different  from  the  utterances  of  the  false 
prophets  as  "teben  is  fi'om  wheat."  ^^  Thus  the  camel- loads  that  made 
me  swerve  aside  throw  light  on  a  good  many  verses  of  Scripture. 

The  drifting  sand  from  the  shore  is  playing  sad  havoc  with  the 

1.  Slsa.  Ix.  4.  2Isa.  XXX.6.  8  Deut.  xxv.  4 ;  Isa.  xll.  15.  4  Oen.  xxiv.  25.  5Ex.  v.  7.  6  Judjr. 
xix.  19.  7  1  Kings  iv.  28.  For  "dromedaries,"  read  as  in  the  text.  8  Job  zxi.  18.  9  Job  xli.  27. 
10  Isa.  X].  7 ;  Ixv.  25.    11  Jer.  xxiU.28. 


lezer, 

."4 


Fragment  of  the  City  Wall  of  Ceeaarea  froiu  t)i«  Ntdaitt  Afm   ^Sw  page  45,) 


th  the 


/ 


v.] 


THE  PHILISTINE  PLAIN  AND  SAMSON's  COUNTRY. 


61 


Philistine  plain.  Immediately  Bouth  of  Joppa  it  reaches  a  distance  of 
four  miles  inland.  Towards  the  sea,  these  dunes  or  sand-hills  present 
a  very  gentle  slope,  but  on  the  land  side  they  are  much  steeper,  so 
that  as  the  sea- wind  blows  the  loose  grains  over  the  crest,  they  roll,  by 
imperceptible  degrees,  farther  and  farther  afield,  gradually  overwhelm- 
ing gardens,  orcnards,  and  ploughed  land,  and,  of  course,  under  the 
Turk,  nothing  is  done  to  stay  their  progress. 

The  road  led  straight  south,  along  these  yellow  desolations ;  the 
telegraph  wires  to  Kgypt  running  at  its  side.  Six  or  seven  miles  from 
Joppa  I  crossed  the  Kubin,  which,  when  I  passed,  had  a  very  small 
stream  ip  its  bed,  linking  together  some  almost  stagnant  pools,  fed  by 
springs  in  the  wady,  near  the  hills.  On  the  shore,  on  a  line  with 
Ramleh,  but  out  of  sight  from  the  road,  lay  Minet  Rubin,  the  ancient 
port  for  Jamnia,  with  some  vines  and  a  few  mulberries  growing  wild 
m  the  sand,  which  here  probably  is  not  deep.  But  there  is  no  longer 
any  harbor  at  this  place,  thougn  ancient  tombs  in  the  rocks  speak  of 
a  large  resident  population  in  past  ages. 

Yabneh,  the  ancient  Jamnia,  lies  on  the  west  side  of  the  Rubin,  the 
course  of  which  I  crossed  by  a  low  bridge  of  two  arches.  Springs  in 
the  river-bed  cause  it  to  be  always  in  full  flow  at  its  mouth;  the  Pal- 
estine Surveyors  speaking  of  it  as  six  or  eight  yards  across  near  the 
sea,  but  foraable  in  May,  1875.  At  Jamnia,  however,  the  channel  is 
nearly  dry,  except  after  rains,  though  it  has  cut  quite  a  ravine  across 
the  whole  plain,  in  some  parts  marshy,  with  reeds  and  rushes  it  the 
sides.  The  village  has  a  population  of  about  2,000,  and  lies  in  a  con- 
spicuous position  on  the  top  of  a  low  green  hill,  four  miles  from  the 
shore.  Standing  apart  from  the  hills  around,  and  bordered  by  a  fringe 
of  gardens,  olive-yards,  and  fields  of  vetches,  it  looks  from  a  distance 
very  picturesque.  Some  w^ells  and  a  rain-pond  within  mud  banks, 
duly  repaired  each  year,  supply  water.  It  has  a  small  mosque,  which 
was  once  a  Christian  church. 

Yabneh,  like  all  places  in  Palestine,  is  very  old.  In  Joshua's  day 
it  was  known  as  Jabneel,^  and  along  with  Ekron,  which  was  near  it, 
was  assigned  to  the  Hebrew  tribe  of  Dan*  The  Philistines,  however, 
kept  possession  of  it  till  King  Uzziah  took  it  and  broke  down  its 
walls.^  At  a  later  date  it  was  again  taken,  by  Simon  Maccabajus,* 
and  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  Jews  till  Pompey  gave  it  back  to  its 
earlier  population.^  A  few  years  later,  a  large  colony  was  transferred 
to  it  by  order  of  the  Roman  Governor  of  Syria,  and  it  was  finally 
handed  over  by  Augustus,  thirty  years  before  Christ,  to  Herod  the 
Great,  from  whom  it  passed,  by  his  will,  to  his  sister  Salome;  she,  in 
turn,  leaving  it  to  Livia,  the  wife  of  Augustus.  So  lightly  were  com- 
munities handed  over  by  one  royal  personage  to  another  in  those  good 
I  J^ab.  XT.  11.  2  Joeb.  xlx,  48 ;  Jos.  AnL,  t.  1, 22.  3  2  CbroD.  x^^yi.  9.  4  b.  q.  142.  6  9.  C  6(. 


62 


THE   IIULV    LAND   AND  TIIK   HIHLK. 


tOiUP. 


old  days!  It  Imd  now  grown  so  Inrge  that  it  io  said,  no  doubt  with 
muoh  exatfgcrntion,  to  have  been  able  to  put  40,000  men  in  tiio  field; 
but  liatreu  of  the  Jews,  wiio  lornied  a  hir^'o  part  of  tlic  community, 
caused  muoh  friction  between  them  and  their  Iieatiien  tenow-citi/.en8. 

At  the  breaicing-out  of  the  last  JewiHii  war,  Jamnia  received  per- 
mission from  Titus  to  give  a  home  to  the  memlHsrs  of  the  Uabbinioal 
College  of  Jerusalem,  and  it  tlms  became  a  famous  seat  of  Jewisli  learn- 
ing ;  but  it  gradually  sank  in  after-times,  till  it  has  become  tlio  insig- 
nificant place  it  now  is. 

It  was  with  a  strange  feeling  that  one  looked  on  the  miserable  col- 
lection  of  mud  houses  of  which  it  at  present  consists,  and  thought  that 
here  the  great  insurrection  of  Ihircoclibu — *' the  Son  of  a  Star" — was 
planned  by  the  Rabbis,  in  their  despair  at  tlie  cdi(;t  by  which  Hadrian 
decreed  tlie  8upj)ressiou  of  Judaism  and  Unyk  their  power  from  the 
hands  of  its  teachers.  Evervwhcre  tliroughout  the  Em{)ire  tlie  Jews 
had  been  restlessly  plotting  and  rising  against  the  Romans  for  two  gen- 
erations, till  even  Iladrian,  wlio  iuul  shown  tlicm  favor  at  the  opening 
of  his  reign,  grew  fierce  aguinst  them ;  ordered  the  site  of  Jerusalem 
to  receive  a  iieathen  name — JFAia.  Capitolina — and  drove  the  plough- 
share over  the  ruins  of  the  Temple,  as  a  sign  that  it  should  never  bj 
rebuilt;  even  forbidding  any  Jew  so  much  as  to  approacli  the  circtiit 
of  the  Holy  City.  But  the  hope  of  a  Messiah,  wlio  should  give  the 
victory  to  tiio  ancient  people  of  God  over  all  tlieir  enemies,  still  burned 
in  the  breast  of  every  Israelite,  and  the  hour  brought  with  it  the  man 
to  kindle  these  hopes  to  a  flame.  Aj)pealing  to  the  prophecy  of 
Balaam,  Barcochba,  api)arently  hitherto  unknown,  gave  himself  out  as 
the  star  that  was  to  come  from  Jacob,  "  to  smite  the  corners  of  Moab, 
and  destroy  all  the  children  of  Seth,"  ^  and  acquired  formidable  ])ovver. 
Rabbi  Akiba,  a  great  name  among  the  Jews,  accepted  him  as  the  Mes- 
siah, and  became  his  armor-bearer.  The  time  predicted  by  Haggai 
was  supposed  to  have  come,  when  Jehovah  would  "shake  the  heavens 
and  the  earth,  and  overthrow  the  throne  of  kingdoms,  and  destroy  the 
strength  of  the  kingdoms  of  the  heathen."  ^  Barcochba  was  to  be  the 
Redeemer  of  Israel,  who  should  free  its  sons  from  the  bondage  of 
Rome.  Insurrection  broke  out  at  once.  The  new  Messiah  must  have 
been  a  fierce  fanatic,  for  he  demanded  that  everyone  who  wished  to 
follow  him  should  submit  to  have  one  of  his  fingers  chopped  oft' as  a 
test  of  his  resolution;  that  circumcision  should  be  repeated  on  all  who 
had  imperfectly  obeyed  the  rite,  and  that  the  Jewish  towns  should  be 
fortified — the  one  reasonable  measure  of  the  three!  According  to  the 
Rabbis,  200,000  men,  each  with  a  finger  hewn  off',  followed  him,  and  as 
many  more,  unwilling  to  endure  this  teat,  agreed  that  they  would  drag- 
up  by  the  roots  a  cedar  of  Lebanon  as  a  pledge  of  their  spirit.     Fifty 

I  Num.  xxiv.  17.    2  Hagg.  ii.  21. 


QntboBeaohatCwsarea.  (8eepa^46.) 


v.] 


THE  PHILISTINE  PLAIN   AND  SAMSON'S  COUNTRY. 


68 


strong  places,  and  nearly  1,000  villages,  were  taken  from  the  Romans, 
and  it  took  three  years  and  a  half  for  Hadrian  to  queil  the  terrible  ris- 
ing. Bether,  the  chief  fortress  of  the  revolted  Hebrews,  held  out  for  a 
whole  year.  The  number  who  perished  was  reckoned  at  half  a  mill- 
ion, and  the  exasperation  at  the  failure  of  the  movement  was  so  great 
that  Barcochba's  name — "the  Son  of  a  Star" — was  changed  by  the 
survivors  to  Bar  Cosiba — "  the  Son  of  a  Lie."  ^ 

This  terrible  narrative  shows  very  forciblv  the  ideas  of  the  Messiah 
prevalent  in  the  days  of  Christ.  It  was  to  make  Him  such  a  king  as 
Barcochba  that  the  multitude  wished  to  lay  hold  on  the  Saviour  and 
put  Him  at  their  head,^  after  the  miracle  of  the  Loaves  and  Fishes  at 
the  head  of  the  Lake  of  Galilee,  and  it  was  because  He  would  not  lead 
a  great  rising  against  Rome  that  His  countrymen  finally  rejected  Him. 

Jamnia  is  only  four  miles  and  a  half  from  a  famous  site — Ekron,  one 
of  the  chief  towns  of  the  Philistines,  now  called  Akir.  Near  it,  among 
the  hills  overhanging  the  plain,  is  the  reigon  of  Samson's  exploits  and 
of  some  notable  incidents  in  the  life  of  David,  which  could  not  be  more 
conveniently  visited  than  from  this  point,  though  horses,  not  wheels, 
are  required  in  the  uplands. 

Ekron  is  now  only  a  mud  hamlet  on  low  rising  ground,  with  gardens 
hedged  with  prickly  pear,  and  a  well  on  the  north.  Cisterns,  empty  or 
tenanted  by  birds,  the  stones  of  hand-mills,  two  marble  columns,  and  a 
stone  press,  are  the  only  ancient  remains  to  be  seen,  for  the  Ekron  of 
the  Bible  was  probably  built,  like  the  present  village,  of  unburnt 
bricks,  which  a  fe\v  years  reduce  to  dust.  One  of  the  two  marble  pil- 
lars still  visible  forms  the  top  of  the  gateway  leading  into  a  very  hum- 
ble village  mosque.  Many  of  the  inhabitants  keep  bees ;  great  jars 
closed  up  at  the  mouth  with  clay,  except  a  little  entrance,  serving  for 
hives,  as,  indeed,  is  the  custom  generally  in  Palestine.  Sheepskin 
cloaks,  the  fleece  inside,  are  worn  by  a  number  of  the  villagers,  to  pro- 
tect them  from  chill  in  the  early  morning  or  through  the  night,  the 
contrast  between  the  heat  of  the  day  and  the  cold  of  these  hours  being 
very  great,  as  of  old  with  Jacob  in  Mesopotamia.'  Ekron  means 
"barren,"  perhaps  because,  although  the  rich  cornlands  of  the  plain  lie 
just  below,  the  place  itself  stands  on  one  of  a  long  series  of  sandy, 
uncultivated  swells,  which,  in  this  part,  reach  from  the  hills  to  the  sea- 
coast. 

This,  the  most  northern  of  the  five  Philistine  cities,  was  assigned  by 
Joshua  to  the  tribe  of  Judah,*  but  afterwards  to  that  of  Dan,^  though, 
in  the  end,  Judah  took  it  and  for  a  time  held  it.^  At  the  close  of  the 
period  of  the  Judges,  however,  it  was  again  a  Philistine  town,  and  is 
famous  because  the  Ark,  when  taken  from  the  Hebrews,  rested  in  it 

1  A  vei7  full  account  of  Barcochba's  revolt  is  given  from  a  Jewish  point  of  view  In  Hamburg- 
er's Real  Encycl.,  11. 86  ff.  2  John  vi.  15.  3  See  ante,  p.  72.  4  Josh.  xlii.  8 :  XV.  IL  40.  6  Josh.  xil. 
ifi.   6  Judg.  i.  18;  1  Sam.TU.;4,  '  ' 


.,  I 


! 


64 


THE   HOLY  LAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


[Chap. 


for  a  tirae.^  In  coniiectior  with  this  incident  it  is  striking  to  find  that 
the  two  plagues  inflicted  on  the  Philistines  for  detaining  th .  sacred 
chest  are  still  among  the  number  of  local  visitation  ;  the  habits  of  the 
ople  leading  very  often  to  the  internal  tumors  called  emerodsin  the 
cripture  narrative,  and  armies  of  field-mice  not  unfrequently  ravaging 
le  crops.    The  destructiveness  of  these  pests  in  the  East  is,  indeed, 


i: 


the        . 

often  very  great.  A  friend  of  Dr.  van  Lennep^  informed  him  that, 
one  year,  in  Asia  Minor,  he  "  saw  the  depredations  committed  by  an 
immense  army  of  field-mice,  which  passed  over  the  ground  like  an 
army  of  young  locusts.  Fields  of  standing  corn  and  barley  disappcaied 
in  an  incredibly  short  time,  and  as  for  vines  and  mulberry-trees,  they 
were  gnawed  at  the  roots  and  speedily  prostrated.  The  annual  pro- 
duce of  a  farm  of  150  acres,  which  promised  to  be  unusually  large,  was 
thus  utterly  consumed,  and  the  neighboring  farms  suffered  equally." 
It  was  in  all  probability  a  visitation  of  these  mice  by  wiiich  the  Phil- 
istines were  harassed,  though,  indeed,  there  is  a  choice  of  creatures  of 
this  class  in  Palestine,  which  boasts  no  fewer  than  twenty-three  varie- 
ties of  the  genus.^ 

It  is  now  over  2,700  years  since  a  solemn  deputation  arrived  in 
Ekron  from  King  Ahaziah  of  Samaria,*  son  of  Ahab,  to  consult  the 
local  god,  who  bore  the  ominous  name  of  Beelzebul-.  or,  to  write  it  more 
correctly,  Baal-zebub — the  "  Lord  of  Flies  " — a  title  of  the  sun-god,  as  con- 
troller of  the  swarming  insect  world.  Flies  are  at  all  times  a  severe  trial 
in  the  hot  months  in  the  East,  but  occasionally  they  become  almost  unen- 
durable. That  they  were  equally  troublesome  in  antiquity  is  shown 
by  Judith  being  said  to  have  pulled  aside  the  mosquito  curtains  on  the 
bed  of  Holofernes,  when  she  was  about  to  kill  him.^  In  the  Jordan 
valley  the  flocks  and  cattle  are  in  gieat  dread  of  a  species  of  blood- 
sucking horse-flies,  to  escape  from  which  the  shepherds  and  herdsmen 
drive  i  -^m  to  higher  and  colder  levels,  where  these  plagues  are  not 
found.  Even  the  wild  animals  are  equally  tormented  by  these  insects, 
and  flee  to  elevations  where  they  are  safe  from  them.  Cases  are  also 
known,  for  example  in  the  region  of  Nazareth,  where  immense  swarms 
of  small  black  flies  darken  the  air,  and  cannot  be  kept  out  of  the  mouth 
and  nostrils;  their  numbers  at  times  breaking  up  an  Arab  encamp- 
ment, since  even  smoke  and  flame  are  hardly  able  to  drive  them  away.^ 
In  the  Bible  the  word  "Zebub"  is  used  twice:  in  the  passage,  "Dead 
flies  cause  the  ointment  of  the  apothecary  to  send  forth  a  stinking 
savor,"'''  and  when  Isaiah  says  that  "  the  Lord  shall  hiss  for  the  fly  that 
is  in  the  uttermost  part  of  tlie  rivers  of  Egypt,"^  that  is.  He  shall  make 
a  sound  like  that  which  men  use  to  attract  and  lead  to  the  hive  a 
swarm  of  bees ;  thus  bringing  from  all  the  canals  and  waters  of  Egypt 


1  1  Sam.  V 
"Mousf."  4 
mosquito  curtains," 


10.     2  Van  Lennep.  BiMf  Ixinds.  p.  285, 


M).  Bibff  Ixinas.  p 
B.  c.  897—895.    6  Judith  xiii.9.  Greek,  Kuiminlov 
6  Jllehm,  p.  445.   7  Eccles.  x.  I.   "  ' 


3  Tliristram,  Nat.  HUt.  qfthe  BH>le:  art. 
rci0v  In  Liddell  and  Scott,  "a  De4  yftth 
8  Isa.  Yil,  18. 


ree  vane- 


The  Mediterranean  seen  through  the  ruins  of  a  pointed  Gothic  arch  at  Atblit.   (See  page  48.) 


v.i 


THE  PHILISTINE  PLAIN  AND  SAMSON's  COUNTRY. 


65 


the  fly  which  in  summer  is  found  near  them  in  such  clouds.  Both  on 
the  Nile  and  in  Palestine  the  common  fly  is  met  with  in  myriads,  and, 
by  carrying  infectious  matter  on  its  feet,  induces,  when  it  lights,  as  it 
constantly  does,  on  the  corners  of  the  eyes,  purulent  ophthalmia,  the 
curse  of  both  countries.  They  also  draw  blood  by  their  bites,  and 
produce  festering  sores,  and  tney  swarm  to  such  an  extent  that  any 
article  of  food  not  carefully  covered  is  made  useless  by  them  in  a  few 
minutes.  Some  authorities  even  think  that  the  words  of  Isaiah  respect- 
ing the  country  on  the  Upper  Nile,  the  "land  of  the  shadowing 
wings,"  *  refer  to  the  vast  swarms  of  flies  in  those  parts. 

But  poor  Ahaziah  had  more  serious  matters  to  trouble  him  than 
Eastern  fly-swarms,  when  his  embassy  appeared  in  the  narrow  streets 
of  Bkron,  so  long  ago.  He  had  fallen  through  an  upper  lattice'of  his 
house  and  feared  he  was  dying.  The  god  Beelzebub  had  a  great  name 
for  revealing  the  future.  Would  the  sufferer  live  or  die  ?  The  fame 
of  the  local  oracle  must  have  been  very  high,  not  only  then,  but  in 
later  times,  since  Beelzebub  had,  by  Christ's  day,  come  to  be  recog- 
nized as  the  chief  of  the  heathen  gods  of  Palestine,  or,  as  the  Jews  put 
it,  the  "  the  prince  of  the  devils :  "^  a  use  of  the  name  which  has, 
among  Christians,  made  it  equivalent  to  that  of  the  arch-enemy  him- 
self. 

East  of  Ekron,  which  itself  is  200  feet  above  the  sea,  the  land  rises 
in  successive  ridges  to  that  of  Tell  Jezer,  which  stands  up  in  prominent 
isolation  750  feet  above  the  Mediterranean,  at  a  distance  of  about  four- 
teen miles  from  it  and  six  from  Ekron.  Part  of  these  uplands  bears 
corn,  round  the  small  villages  of  Naaneh  and  El-Mansurah,  the  former 
—once  Naamah,  near  Makkedah — where  Joshua  put  to  death  the  five 
kings  after  the  rout  of  Bethhoron.^  The  rest  is  a  barren  reach  of  half- 
consolidated  sand,  without  water.  Below  the  swelling  ground  of  the 
low  hills  the  soil  is  rich,  but  only  partially  cultivated,  and  the  rising 
slopes  themselves  are  the  haunts  of  small  encampments  of  wandering 
Bedouins.  The  ancient  fertility  of  the  hills  has  in  fact  been  greatly 
diminished  by  the  want  of  population,  the  terraces  on  which  vineyards 
and  orchards  were  planted  being  left  to  fall  into  ruin,  so  that  the  rich 
soil  has  to  a  large  extent  been  washed  away,  leaving  only  the  bare 
rock. 

In  1874  the  long-lost  royal  Canaanite  city  of  Gezer  was  strangely 
re-discovered  by  M.  Clermont-Ganneau  in  this  hitherto  unsuspected 
region.  Finding  it  stated  in  an  old  Arab  chronicle,  in  an  account  of  a 
petty  battle  fought  in  this  neighborhood,  that  the  shouts  of  the  com- 
batants were  heard  both  at  the  village  of  Khulda  and  Tell-el-Jezer — 
"  the  HiU  of  Gezer" — he  came  to  this  spot,  to  see  if  he  could  justify 
his  idea  that  the  latter  was  really  the  site  of  the  long-forgotten  city. 
ll8a.xyUi.i.  2]Iatt.lx.M|xU.2i;MarklU.22.  8 Josh. z. lOi xv. 41. 


I 


h' 


llf 


1 


66 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


[Chap. 


Learning  from  some  peasants  that  a  rude  inscription  was  to  be  seen  at 
one  point,  cut  deeply  into  tlie  natural  rock,  he  sought  it  out,  and  to 
his  delight  found  that  it  was  in  Hebrew,  and  read  "  Boundary  of  Gezer." 
The  letters  are  supposed  to  be  as  old  as  the  Maccabsean  age — the  sec- 
ond century  before  Christ — and  seem  to  leave  no  doubt  that  Gezer  has 
actually  come  once  more  to  light.  As  in  many  other  cases,  a  Mahom- 
medan  tomb  crowns  the  hill,  marking  it  out  for  a  long  distance  in 
every  direction.  The  Tell,  that  is,  mound,  or  hill,  is  long  and  irregu- 
lar in  shape,  with  terraces  at  the  sides,  supported  by  a  great  wall  of 
large  unhewn  blocks  of  stone.  Near  the  eastern  end  is  a  raised  square 
platform  of  earth,  about  200  feet  each  way,  containing  similar  blocks. 
This  is  all  that  is  now  left  of  the  once  populous  city.  A  fine  spring 
on  the  east  must  have  supplied  it  abundantly  with  water,  while  the 
plain  below  stretches  out  in  rich  corn-fields  to  the  sand-hills  near  the 
sea.  If  it  was  hard  for  the  citizens  to  climb  to  their  lofty  home,  the 
view  from  it  well  repaid  them  when  it  was  reached,  for  the  plain  of 
Sharon  to  the  north,  with  Lydda,  and  doubtless,  in  those  days,  many 
other  towns  or  villages,  and  the  great  Philistine  plain  to  the  south, 
with  its  varying  surface  and  its  busy  life,  lay  at  their  feet ;  the  purple 
mountains  of  Judaea  rising  behind  them  to  the  east,  while  the  view  to 
the  west  was  only  closed  by  the  blue  horizon  of  the  great  sea.^  Deso- 
late now  for  many  centuries,  human  life  was  once  varied  enough  on 
this  airy  height;  for  Gezer,  besides  being  a  Levitical  city,  and,  as  such, 
thronged  with  priests,  was  so  important  as  to  form  part  of  the  dowry 
of  Pharaoh's  daughter  when  she  became  one  of  Solomon's  many 
queens. 

Wady  es  Surar,  which  opens  on  the  plain  about  four  miles  south- 
east of  Ekron,  leads  directly  into  the  country  of  Samson,  and  also  to 
the  scene  of  David's  encounter  with  Goliath.  It  stretches  up,  to  the 
south-east,  into  the  mountains  of  Judtea,  and  is  water'^d  in  its  centre 
by  the  Kubin ;  other  wadys  or  valleys  running  into  it  on  both  sides 
throughout  its  ascending  length,  till  it  loses  itself  in  the  numberless 
branches  which  pierce  the  hill-country  in  all  directions.  Slowly 
mounting  it  from  the  plain  by  a  rough  track  which  skirts  its  lower 
side,  a  long  slow  climb  at  last  brings  us  in  sight  of  Surah,  the  ancient 
Zorah,  the  birth-place  of  Sampson,  on  the  top  of  a  hill  1,171  feet  high, 
about  twelve  miles  sorth-east  of  Ekron.  L^nng  aloft,  over  the  valley, 
this  spot  was  evidently  occupied  by  the  Hebrews  as  an  outpost,  from 
which  to  watch  their  enemies,  the  Philistines ;  the  eye  ranging  from 
it  over  the  whole  broad  glen  beneath,  as  well  as  the  hills  on  its  south 
side,  which  in  Samson's  day  were  hostile  country.  The  present  village 
is  a  moderate-sized  collection  of  mud  huts^  on  the  top  of  a  bare  white 

1  Gezer  Is  mentioned  in  Josh.  x.  33;  xll.  12;  xvi.  3, 10;  Judg.  i.  29;  2tiam.  V.  25;  1  Kings  ix.  16, 
16, 17 ;  1  Ghron.  vi.  67 ;  vli.  28 ;  xiv.  16 ;  xx.  4.    2  Josh.  xv.  33. 


And  they  shall  break  down  thy 
walls,  and  destroy  thy  pleasant 
houses  :  and  they  shall  lay  thy 
stones  and  thy  timber  and  thy 
dust  in  the  midst  of  the  water.  .  . 

How  art  thou  destroyed,  that 
was  inhabited  of  seafaring  men, 
the  renowned  city,  which  wast 
strong  in  the  sea.-fese.xxvi.  12,17. 
RUINS  OF  ATHLIT.    (WEST  SIDE.)    (See  page  48.) 


I 


V.) 


TBfi  PHILIBTIKB  PLAIK  AND  8AM80N*8  OOUNTRT. 


67 


hill,  with  some  olives  lower  down  the  slopes  to  the  north  and  east,  and 
a  well  in  a  little  vdley  below ;  but  the  villM(«ni  do  not  nee  this,  pre- 
ferrinff  to  get  their  water  from  a  spring  halfa  mile  off,  at  the  foot  of 
the  hill.  A  mukam,  or  shrinet  of  a  Mussulman  saint  stands  on  the 
south  side  of  the  village ;  a  low  square  building  of  stone,  with  a  hum- 
ble dome  and  a  small  oourt,  within  an  old  stone  wall,  at  tlie  side.  You 
enter  the  yard  through  a  small  door  in  this  wall,  up  two  or  three  stops, 
but  beyond  the  bare  walls,  and  a  solitary  palm-tree,  twice  the  height 
of  the  wall,  there  is  nothing  to  see.  Sheikh  Samat,  whoever  he  was, 
lies  solitary  enough  and  well  forgotten  in  his  airy  sepulchre,  but  the 
whitewash  covering  his  resting-place  marks  a  custom  which  is  univer- 
sal with  Mussulman  tombs  of  this  kind.  In  almost  every  landscape 
the  eye  is  caught  by  some  whited  sepulchre,  just  as  the  eye  must  have 
been  in  the  Bible  times  by  those  to  one  of  which  our  liord  may  have 
pointed  when  He  denounced  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees  as  having;  like 
such  places,  outward  purity,  but  the  very  opposite  within.*  The  Jews 
whitewashed  their  tombs,  however,  to  warn  passers- by  of  the  defiling 
presence  of  death,  lest  too  near  an  approach  might  make  them  unclean, 
and  thus  unfit  them  for  any  religious  act,  or  for  partaking  of  the  Pass* 
over  or  entering  the  Temple. 

On  the  airy  hill  of  Surah  or  Zorah,  the  border  villa^,  a  spot  now  so 
bleak  and  uninviting,  young  Samson  grew  np,  amidst  plentiful  dis- 
course about  border  forays,  and  constant  sight  and  sound  of  danger 
firom  the  hated  foe:  a  fit  school  for  such  a  lad.  Many  a  time  must 
he  have  gone,  as  a  little  child,  with  his  mother  to  the  spring,  and 
walked  back  up  the  steep  half-mile  beside  her,  as  she  carried  her 
water-jar  on  her  heac  to  supply  the  household;  for  mothers  in  Pales- 
tine, as  elsewhere,  like  to  have  their  growing  boys  at  their  side  when 
they  go  abroad.  It  speaks  of  troublous  times  that  a  village  should 
have  been  perchod  so  high,  instead  of  nestling  in  the  broad,  flat  valley 
below;  but  the  landscape  may  have  been  cheerier  in  those  days  than 
it  is  now,  for  the  ruins  of  ancient  towns  or  villages  crown  nearly  every 
hill-top  round ;  over  thirty  being  found  within  a  oirele  of  three  miles 
from  Zorah.  So  populous  was  the  country  once ;  so  desolate  is  it 
to-day. 

Three  miles  off  to  the  south-west,  on  the  south  side  of  the  great  val- 
ley, 800  feet  above  the  sea,  and  thus  nearly  400  feet  below  Zorah, 
young  Samson  had  before  him  the  village  of  Tibnah — then  Timnath^ 
— which  was  for  a  time  all  the  world  to  him,  for  the  maiden  who  had 
won  his  heart  lived  there.  Ruined  walls,  oaves,  wine-presses,  and 
rock-cut  cisterns  are  all  that  remains  of  it,  unless  we  count  the  spring, 
north  of  the  site,  to  and  from  which  Samson's  betrothed  must  often 
have  borne  her  water-jar  in  those  old  days.    The  local  and  Oriental 

%  Matt,  xxlii.  27.    2  Josh.  xv.  10 ;  Judg.  xiv.  S. 


r 


I 


■tn 


^ 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  THE   BIBLE. 


tOlAV. 


coloring  of  the  Scripture  story  of  the  marriage*  and  its  incidents  is 
perfect.  Samson,  we  read,  "went  down"  to  Timnath — for  it  lay  lower 
than  Zorali,  as  we  have  seen.  It  was  then  a  Philistine  village,  and 
the  Philistines  had  dominion  over  Israel  at  that  time.  As  now,  the 
lover  couhl  not  himsolf  manage  the  courtship;  his  father  and  mother 
must  bi'eak  the  ice,  by  getting  his  sweetheart  for  him;  must  learn  the 
dowry  to  be  given  for  her,  and  consent  to  pay  it.  The  betrothal 
arranged,  parents  and  son  wei'e  free  to  go  together  to  Timnath,  and,  for 
tlie  iirst  time,  Samson  got  leave  to  talk  with  his  future  wife.  The 
incident  of  the  swarm  of  bees  in  the  dried-up  skeleton  of  the  lion  is 
also  true  to  local  experience.  A  dead  camel  is  often  found  so  dried  up 
by  the  summer  heat,  before  putrefaction  has  begun,  that  the  mummy 
remains  permanently  unaltered,  without  any  corrupt  smell.^  Such  a 
withered  and  dry  shell  of  a  dead  beast  would  offer  to  wild  bees  a  very 
fit  place  for  storing  their  honey,  accustomed  as  they  are  to  use  hollow 
trees,  or  cleats  in  the  rocks,  for  hives.  Even  in  England  wrens  and 
sparrows  ha^^e  been  known  to  make  their  nest  in  the  dried  body  of  a 
crow  or  hiT,wic  nailed  up  on  a  barn-door,'  and  instances  are  recorded  of 
hornets  using  the  skull  of  a  dead  camel  for  their  hive.*  As  to  the 
lion:  a  few  years  ago  the  carcass  of  one  was  brought  into  Damascus, 
and  lion-bones  have  been  found  in  the  gravel  of  the  Jordan,*  while  in 
the  Bible  there  are  five  different  words  for  the  animal  at  different 
stages  of  growth,  and  of  these,  three — Laish,  Lebaoth,  and  Arieh*  — 
are  used  as  names  of  places,  apparently  from  lions  haunting  the  neigh- 
borhood. 

Marriage  feasts  still  continue  for  seven  days,'  as  Samson's  did, 
amidst  songs,  dances,  and  rough  jollity,  in  which  putting  and  answer- 
ing riddles  forms  a  prominent  part.  It  would  seem,  further,  firom  Sam- 
son's being  allowed  to  see  his  betrothed  before  marriage,  that  the 
marriage  feast  was  something  like  that  now  found  among  tne  peasants 
of  the  Hauran:  its  scene,  the  open-air  threshing-floor;  the  company, 
made  up  of  "friends  of  the  bridegroom,"  of  whom  the  parents  of  Sam- 
son's wife  provided  the  feast  with  as  many  as  thirty  ;  *  the  bride  and 
bridegroom  sitting,  rudely  crowned,  as  king  and  queen  of  the  sports, 
on  the  threshing-sledge,  as  a  mock  throne,  till  at  the  close  of  the  week 
husband  and  wife  find  themselves  once  more  poor  hard-working  peas- 
ants.^ That  the  whole  party  at  Samson's  wedding  were  little  better 
than  peasants  is  clear  from  their  distress  at  the  thought  of  losing  a 
shirt  and  an  outer  tunic  apiece.  "  Have  you  invited  us,"  was  their  taunt 
to  the  bride,  "  only  to  take  from  us  our  property  ?  "  ^^  Marriage  feasts 
often  end  now,  as  they  did  in  this  case,  in  quarrels  and  even  bloodshed. 

1  Judg.  xlv.  Iff.  2  Rosenm  Her,  A.  v.  N.  Morgenland,  iil.  46.  3  Tristram,  JVd^  Hist.  Sible,  p.  324. 
4  Land  and  Book,  p.  566.  5  Tristram,  Nat.  Hist.  Bible,  p.  117.  6  Judge,  xviti.  4:  Josh.  xv.  32;  xlx. 
6;  2  Kings  XV.  25.  7  Rielim,p.338.  8  Judge. xiv.  11.  9  Dr.  J.O.WetsteininDelitzsoh'sJroAeiUedi 
p.  162  fl.    10  Judges.  :iv.  15. 


Bedouin  from  Hauran.   (See  page  64.) 


BibU,p.92L 
_  XV.  32;  xlx. 


▼J 


THE  PHUJOTINB  PLilN  AKD  SAMSON'B  OOUNTRY. 


Sampson's  revenge  for  his  wife  beins  stolen  firom  him  and  married  to 
another  man  took,  as  we  may  remomoer,  a  form  strange  to  Western 
ideas,  and  yet  this  too,  on  the  spot,  must  have  seemed  quite  in  keepins 
with  local  ways  and  oiroumstanoes.  The  great  valley  of  Sorek,  with 
its  broad  swells  of  rioh  hiid  stretching  away,  wave  on  wave,  and  the 
slopes  of  the  distant  hills  at  its  sides,  must  have  been  covered  for 
many  miles  in  every  direction  with  a  sea  of  com,  which  in  the  hot 
summer,  as  harvest  approached,  would  be  like  so  much  tinder.  Any 
one  who  has  travelea  in  Palestine  at  this  season  must  have  noticed 
the  rigorous  precautions  taken  against  a  conflagration,  so  certain  to  be 
widely  disatitrous  where  no  walls  or  hedges  separate  the  fields ;  there 
being  great  danger,  in  fact,  of  the  flames  spreading  over  the  whole 
landscape.  It  would  be  easy  for  Samson  to  get  any  number  of  jackals, 
by  the  abundant  help  he  could  command  as  a  local  hero,  if  not  already 
"judge."  The  howls  of  these  animals  by  night,  in  every  part  of  Pales* 
tine,  show  how  common  they  are  even  now,  and  in  Samson's  time  they 
must  have  been  much  more  so,  as  difierent  places  bore  different  names 
given  fVom  the  numbers  of  these  pests  in  their  neighbohood.  We  have 
"the  Land  of  Shual"^ — that  is,  "the  Jackal  Country" — apparently 
near  to  Bethel;  Hazar-shual,  or  "Jackal  Town,"*  and  Shaalabbin — 
"  the  City  of  Jackals  " — a  town  of  Dan,  Samson's  own  tribe.'  For 
Maralah,*  in  Zebulon,  on  the  north,  the  Syriac,  moreover,  reads,  "the 
Hill  of  Jackals."  Indeed,  the  constant  mention  of  snares,  nets,  pits, 
&c.,  in  tlie  Bible,  shows  that  wild  creatures  of  all  kinds  must  have 
been  much  more  numerous  than  they  now  are,  though  some  kinds, 
jackals  among  them,  still  abound. 

Looking  down  to  the  south  from  Zorah,  the  site  of  Bethshemesh,  to 
which  the  lowing  kine  dragged  the  cart  on  which  had  been  put  the 
sacred  ark  of  the  Hebrews,  is  in  full  view.  It  is  two  miles  from 
Zorah,  and  lies  about  250  feet  lower.  Heaps  of  stones,  and  ruined 
walls  that  seem  modem,  speak  of  a  former  village,  while  foundations 
and  walls  of  good  masonry,  apparently  more  ancient,  mark  a  low  swell 
to  the  west.  Add  to  these  some  rock-cut  tombs,  half  buried  ;  a  few 
olives  to  the  east ;  a  tomb  of  some  unknown  Mussulman  saint — and 
you  have  all  that  remains  of  Bethshemesh,  unless  you  include  a  set  of 
dry  stone  huts,  with  roofs  of  boughs,  for  shelter  to  harvestmen  in  the 
reaping  season.  The  old  name,  which  means  "  the  House  of  the  Sun," 
is  now  changed  to  "  Ain  Shems,"  "the  Fountain  of  the  Sun" — living 
water  being  found  in  the  valley  below.  Both  point  to  the  Philistine 
«un-worship,  and  both  names  are  fitting,  for  every  sun  **  house "  or 
temple  needed,  like  all  other  ancient  sanctuaries,  a  fountain  near  it,  to 
supply  water  for  ablutions  &pd  libations.    The  village  looks  down  the 

1  1  Sam.  xiii.  17.    2  Josb.  XT.  28;xlz.S:lChron.  lr.28;  Neh.xi.a7.    8  Josh.  xlx.  42.    4  Josh. 
slx.ll.  See  the  whole  subject  treated  with  wonderlul  learning  in  Boohart's  menmicm,  p.  864  ff. 


w 


70 


THE   HOLY   LAND   AND  THE   BIBLE. 


[CHAP. 


wide  valley  of  Sorek,  which  trends  to  the  north-east,  so  that  the 
men  of  Bertlishemesh,  then  busy  reaping  their  wheat,  could  see  from 
afar  the  kine  dragging  the  cart  with  the  ark^  towards  them,  up  the 
rough  track  from  Ekron.  Their  little  hill-town,  like  Zorah,  was  a 
frontier  settlement  of  the  Hebrews  in  those  days,  and  right  glad 
must  all  hearts  have  been  to  welcome  the  national  palladium  once 
more  among  its  own  people. 


-      CHAPTER  VI. 

LOCALITIES  FAMOUS  IN   DAVID'S  LIFE. 

Abojt  four  miles  to  the  south,  over  the  hills,  we  pass  from  Samson's 
country  to  a  district  famous  in  the  history  of  David.  An  old  Roman 
road  leads  part  of  the  way;  for  indeed  such  roads  run  in  all  directions 
through  these  hills,  as  the  English  roads  run  through  the  Scotch  High- 
lands; the  first  object  of  the  conquerors  having  been  to  secure  order 
and  quiet  in  the  land.  When  this  faint  trace  of  a  road  fails,  a  track 
leads  to  the  Wady  es  Sunt,  which  is  no  other  than  the  valley  of  Elah,^ 
the  scene  of  David's  memorable  conflict  with  the  gigantic  Goliath.^ 
Saul  had  marched  down  with  his  militia  from  Benjamin,  by  one  of  the 
lines  of  valleys,  afterwards  utilized  for  various  Roman  roads  from  the 
mountains  to  the  sea-plain,  and  had  encamped  on  the  low  hills  border- 
ing the  Wady  es  Sunt — or  "the  Valley  of  the  Acacia."  Meanwhile 
the  Philistines  vere  marshalled  at  Ephes-Dammin,  on  the  other  side 
of  the  valley,  down  the  centre  of  which  ran  a  deep  ravine  cut  by  win- 
ter torrents,  forming  a  small  wady  within  the  greater.  The  rival 
armies  covered  the  opposing  slopes;  the  natural  trench  in  the  middle 
forming  a  barritr  between  them.  For  forty  days  the  Philistine  cham- 
pion had  advanced  from  the  west  side,  his  huge  lance  in  his  hand,  his 
brazen  helmet  and  armour  glittering  in  the  sun,  and  had  shouted  his 
challenge  to  the  Hebrews,  without  anyone  venturing  to  accept  it.  On 
the  fortieth  day,  however,  a  mere  stripling,  low  of  stature,  but  of  fine 
features,  and  with  only  the  common  coat  or  blouse  of  a  shepherd-boy, 
made  his  way  towards  him  from  across  the  valley,  with  nothing  in 
his  hands  but  a  shepherd's  staff  and  a  goat's-hair  sling.  The  indigna- 
tion of  the  haughty  warrior  at  the  approach  of  such  an  adversary  was 
unbounded.  Was  he  a  dog  that  a  boy  should  come  to  him  with  a 
stick?  Stormy  curses  on  so  poor  a  foe,  showered  forth  in  the  name  of 
llSam.TL12fl.  218am.xvU.2.  8iSaiu.xvU.i. 


[Chap. 

that  the 
see  from 
.,  up  the 
ti,  was  a 
^ht  glad 
am  once 


Samson's 
d  Roman 
lirections 
ch  High- 
ure  order 
3,  a  track 
of  Elah,2 
Groliath.^ 
>ne  of  the 
from  the 
s  border- 
eanwhile 
ther  side 
by  win- 
rhe  rival 
le  middle 
ne  cham- 
hand,  his 
3uted  his 
it.    On 
it  of  fine 
lerd-boy, 
3thing  in 
indigua- 
sary  was 
In  with  a 
name  of 


V1.1 


LOCALITIES  FAMOUS  IN  DAVID'S  LIFE. 


71 


all  his  gods,  relieved  his  fury.  But  David  knew  his  own  purpose, 
which  was  no  less  than  an  inspiration  of  genius.  Accustomed,  as  a 
shepherd-lad,  to  the  sling,  so  that  he  could  hit  any  object  with  it, 
never  missing,  he  would  stun  the  Philistine  with  a  pebble  hurled  full 
fbrce  at  his  forehead,  and  then  kill  him  before  he  recovered  conscious- 
ness. Slings  are  still  in  use  among  shepherds  iji  Palestine,  not  only  to 
drive  off  wild  animals  but  to  guide  their  flocks.  A  stone  oast  on  this 
side  or  that,  before  or  behind,  drives  the  sheep  or  goats  as  the  shepherd 
wishes.  It  was  the  familiar  weapon  of  hunters,^  and  also  of  light- 
armed  fighting  men,2  especially  among  the  Benjamites,  whose  skill 
wat>  famous.*  A  good  stinger  could  hit  at  600  paces,*  and  hence  at  a 
short  distance  the  force  of  the  blow  given  must  have  been  very  great. 
The  terrible  whiz  of  a  sling-stone,  and  the  distance  it  flew,  have, 
indeed,  made  it  a  symbol  of  final  and  wrathful  rejection  by  God. 
"  The  souls  of  thy  enemies,"  said  the  politic  Abigail  to  David  himself, 
at  a  later  period,  "  shall  Jehovah  sling  out,  as  out  of  the  middle  or  a 
sling."  ^  Trusting  in  his  God,  the  brave  boy  picked  up  five  pebbles 
from  the  bed  of  the  water- course,  when  he  had  made  his  way  down  its 
steep  side,  and,  having  crossed  the  rough  stony  channel,  he  clambered 
up  tiie  other  bank ;  then,  putting  a  pebble  in  liis  sling,  he  stood  before 
the  Philistine.  Furious  words,  followed  by  strides  towards  the  lad, 
seemed  ominous  of  his  fate,  but  a  moment  more  sent  the  stone  into 
Goliath's  forehead,  and  he  sank  insensible.  The  sequal  we  all  know. 
Seeing  their  champion  fall  without  any  apparent  aause,  for  the  design 
of  David  could  not  have  been  suspected,  a  panic  seized  the  Philistines, 
and  they  fled  in  wild  disorder  to  the  mouth  of  the  valley,  where,  if 
Captain  Conder  be  right,  Gath  stood  towering  en  its  white  chalk  clift', 
the  frontier  fortress  of  Philistia,  commanding  the  high  road  to  the 
corn-lands  of  Judah  and  the  vineyards  of  Hebron. 

All  the  localities  mentioned  in  this  exciting  narrative  lie  very  close 
together.  "  Socoh,  which  belonged  to  Judah,"  is  Shuweikeh,  a  heap 
of  ruins,  about  1,150  feet  above  the  sea,  on  the  south  slopes  of  Wady 
es  Sunt;  and  Ephes-Dammin,  "the  Bloody  Boundary" — so  called, 
doubtless,  from  soine  fierce  combat  there — may  be  some  ruins  a  little 
higher  up  the  wady,  now  called  Beit  Fased. 

About  two  mil&i  to  the  south  of  the  scene  of  David's  triumph  the 
Palestine  Surveyors  appear  to  have  discovered  the  Cave  of  Adullam, 
so  famous  in  the  after-life  of  the  Hebrew  king.  It  lies  in  a  round  hill 
al:)out  500  feet  high,  pierced  with  a  number  of  caverns,  th*)  hill  itself 
being  isolated  by  several  valleys  and  marked  by  ancient  ruins,  tombs, 
and  quarrjdngs.  At  its  foot  are  two  old  wells  of  special  antiquity,  one 
measuring  eight  to  ten  feet  in  diameter,  not  unlike  the  wells  at  Beer- 

1  Jobxli.28.  2  2  Cbron.  xxTi.  14.  **  Judg.  xx.  16;  1  CbroQ.  xii.  2.  4  Aiebm,  p.  1410.  6  ISanu 
XXY.  29. 


/.  V" 


...^utidiia.^' 


72 


THE   HOLY  LAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


rcsAp. 


I 


slieba,  and  surrounded,  as  those  are,  by  numerous  stone  water-troughs. 
Near  these  wells,  under  the  shadow  of  the  hill  which  towers  aloft,  a 
veritable  natural  stronghold,  are  other  ruins,  to  whicii  the  peasants 
give  the  name  of  Aid-el-Ma,  which  is  identical  with  the  Hebrew 
Adullam.^  Such  a  verification  seems  to  mark  the  s])ot  as,  beyond 
question,  that  in  whjch  the  famous  cave  should  be  found,  for  it  was 
near  the  royal  city  of  Adullam,  and  the  ruins  on  the  hill-top  may  well 
be  those  of  that  place.^  Here  then,  apparently,  it  was  that  there 
gathered  round  David  "everyone  that  was  in  distress,  and  everyone 
that  was  in  debt,  and  everyone  that  was  discontented:"^  a  motley 
crew  out  of  which  to  create  a  reliable  force. 

The  road  from  Hebron  to  the  plains  passes  the  hill,  winding  along 
the  valley  of  Elah,  here  called  Wady  es  Sir,  from  the  side  of  which 
the  hill  of  Adullam  rises,  the  road  continuing  down  the  valley,  which 
is  called  Wady  es  Sunt  from  Socoh  to  the  plains.  Other  roads  trend 
oflf  in  different  directions,  marking  Aid-el-Ma  as  an  important  centre 
of  communication  in  former  ages. 

A  cave  which  completes  the  identification  exists  in  tlie  hill,  which 
in  fact  is  pierced  by  many  natural  caverns.  It  is  not  necessary  to 
suppose  that  the  one  used  by  David  was  of  great  size,  for  such  spacious 
recesses  are  avoided  by  the  peasantry  even  now,  from  their  dampness 
and  tendency  to  cause  fever.  Their  darkness,  moreover,  needs  many 
lights,  and  they  are  disliked  from  the  numbers  of  scorpions  and  bats 
frequenting  them.  The  caves  used  as  human  habitations,  at  least  in 
summer,  are  generally  about  twenty  or  thirty  paces  across,  lighted  by 
the  sun,  and  cQmparatively  dry.  I  have  often  seen  such  places  wit\i 
their  roofs  blackened  by  smoke :  families  lotiging  in  one,  goats,  cattle, 
and  sheep  stabled  in  another,  and  grain  or  straw  stored  in  a  third. 
At  Adullam  there  are  two  such  caves  on  the  northern  slope  of  the 
hill,  and  another  farther  south,  while  the  opposite  sides  of  the  tribu- 
tary valley  are  lined  with  rows  of  caves,  all  smoke-blackened,  and 
mostly  inhabited,  or  used  as  pens  for  flocks  and  herds.  The  cave  on 
the  south  of  the  hill  itself  was  tenanted  by  a  single  family  when  the 
surveyors  visited  it,  just  as  it  might  have  been  by  David  and  his 
immediate  friends,  while  his  followers  housed  themselves  in  those  near 
at  hand.* 

The  whole  neighborhood,  indeed,  is  intensely  interesting.  About 
three  miles  south-east  of  Adullam,  among  liills  1,600  feet  high,  is 
Keilah,  a  town  of  Judah,  which  David  rescued  from  an  attack  of  the 
Philistines,  who  had  fallen  upon  it  at  the  beginning  of  the  harvest  and 
carried  off  its  cattle,  and  the  corn  from  the  threshing- flooi's.*  They 
had  come  up  the  valley  of  Elah,  from  the  plain,  to  those  highland 

1  Tsnt  Work  in  Palettine,  p.  277.    2  Jos.  ^n^.,  vi.  12, 3.    8  1  Sam.  XXll.  2.   4  PaL  Mtportt,  U7S,  p.  148 
S   5  1  Sam  .  xxiii.  1. ;  Jos.  Ard.,  vi.  18, 1. 


r-troughs. 
rs  aloft,  a 
3  peasants 
i  Hebrew 
s,  beyond 
for  it  was 
may  well 
hat  there 
everyone 
a  motley 

ing  along 
of  which 
jy,  which 
ads  trend 
mt  centre 

ill,  which 

sessary  to 

I  spacious 

lampness 

ids  many 

and  bats 

t  least  in 

ghted  by 

leeS  witli 

s,  cattle, 

a  third. 

)e  of  the 

le  tribu- 

ned,  and 

cave  on 

;rhen  the 

and  his 

ose  near 

About 
high,  is 
k  of  the 
ieat  and 
They 
ighland 

1876,  p.  148 


'^sa(4f-Si**iv  M 


VI.] 


LOCALITIES  FAMOUS  IN  DAVID's  LIFE. 


73 


corn-fields,  which  lay  at  their  mercy  year  by  year.  The  broad  valley 
is,  for  the  greater  part  of  its  course,  over  a  mile  across,  and  the  rich 
arable  ground,  watered  by  brooks  and  springs,  offers  in  spring-time  a 
wide  landscape  of  green  corn-fields  and  brown  furrows,  and  in  harvest 
a  great  undulating  sea  of  yellow  grain.  Of  old,  as  now,  the  villager 
lived  in  the  hills  for  safety ;  the  peasantry  coming  down  to  t^^e  valley 
to  till  their  fields.  As  long  as  the  Philistines  held  Gain,  if  Tell  es 
Safieh  be  that  city,  they  could  ascend  the  great  valley  to  the  richest 
corn-land  of  Judah  ;  or  if  they  chose  to  keep  on  to  the  east,  the  road 
lay  open  to  them  to  Jerusalem  itself,  while  by  turning  south  just 
beyond  Bethshemesh,  up  a  broad  valley  running  into  the  valley  of 
Elah,  they  could  reach  ICeilah. 

The  Wady  es  Sunt,  or  "  the  Valley  of  the  Acacia,"  runs  east  and 
west  from  the  valley  of  Elah,  Socoh  lying  at  its  e^^tern  end;  and  thus 
looking,  north  and  south,  into  Elah,  and  west,  up  the  Valley  of'the 
Acacia.  Goliath  must  have  come  with  the  Philistines  up  the  valley 
running  south  from  Bethshemesh;  while  the  main  line  of  communica- 
tion between  the  territory  of  Benjamin  and  the  Acacia  Valley  led  Saul 
straight  towards  them. 

The  terebinths,  from  which  the  valley  of  Elah  takes  its  name,  still 
cling  to  their  ancient  soil.  On  the  west  side  of  the  valley,  near  Socoh, 
there  is  a  very  large  and  ancient  tree  of  this  kind,  known  as  "the 
Terebinth  of  Wady  Sur,"  fifty-five  feet  in  height,  its  trunk  seventeen 
feet  in  circumference ;  and  the  breadth  of  its  shade  no  less  than  seventy- 
five  feet.  It  marks  the  upper  end  of  the  Elah  valley,  and  forms  a 
noted  object,  being  one  of  the  largest  terebinths  in  Palestine,  and 
standing  so  as  to  be  conspicuous  from  a  long  distance.  Two  or  thiee 
more  still  dot  the  course  of  the  valley,  but  only  at  wide  intervals. 
The  glory  of  Elah  in  this  respect  is  gone. 

After  the  massacre  of  the  priests  at  Nob,  Keilah  became  the  refuge 
of  Abiathar,  who  brought  with  him  the  Sacred  Ephod,  the  oracle  con- 
stantly consulted  by  the  Hebrew  kings.  When  he  retired  from  Galh, 
after  his  first  residence  there,  David  had  taken  his  position  at  Adul lam, 
which  was  the  strongest  post  in  the  region  specially  exposed  to 
Philistine  inroads.  After  a  time  he  fled  to  Hareth,  which  seems  to 
have  been  high  up  on  some  lofty  hills  south  from  Adullam,  and  a  little 
over  a  mile  from  the  lower-lying  Keilah.  From  this  point  he  wentdown 
to  that  village — then  a  place  defended  with  walls,  bars,  and  gates,^  and 
offering  the  attraction  of  Abiathar's  presence.  He  soon  learned,  how- 
ever, that  the  bands  of  Saul  were  near  at  hand,  and  that  the  towns- 
people intended  to  betray  bim  to  them.  How  he  escaped  From  this 
supreme  danger  seems  to  be  hinted  in  the  Eighteenth  Psalm,  in  which 
he  thanks  God  that,  by  Ws  help,  he  had  run  through  a  troop,  and  had 

1 1  Sain,  xxiii.  7. 


74 


THE  HOLY   LAND  AND  THE   BIBLE. 


[CUAP. 


I 


.  1 


)  i 


leaped  over  a  wall.^  But  »ucli  feats  would  be  comparatively  easy  to 
one  who  could  speak,  as  David  does,  of  his  being  like  a  hind  for  swift- 
ness, and  able  to  break  a  steel  bow  with  his  hands.'^ 

Yet  the  sortie  from  Keilah  must  have  been  a  wild  aft'air.  The  steep- 
sides  of  the  hill  on  wliicli  it  stood  were  in  tliuse  days  terraced  and 
covered  with  corn;  immense  labor  having  been  expended  to  make  the 
huge,  step-like  walls  behind  which  it  grew.  There  are  now  no  trees; 
but  perhaps,  as  at  Bethlehem,  they  then  rose  here  and  there  on  the 
terraces.  To  break  out  with  such  of  his  troop  of  600  men  as  were 
quartered  in  the  town,  letting  themselves  down  from  tlie  wall,  and  tlien 
mustering  for  a  rush  through  the  force  hemming  them  in,  must  have 
made  strange  excitement  in  the  dark  night  in  which,  one  would  sup- 
pose, it  was  carried  out.  Tlien  came  the  svvift  flig^'t  in  as  good  order 
as  possible,  past  the  well  at  the  foot  of  the  hiP  past  another  well 
fartlier  down  the  narrow  valley,  and  on  till  the  strath  broadens  into 
green  fields,  edged  with  low  scrub-covered  hills.  They  must  have  fled 
towards  the  V-tlley  of  the  Terebinths — the  valley  of  P^lah — thankful 
to  escape,  and  at  last  hiding,  it  may  bo,  in  some  of  the  deep  gorges 
into  which  one  looks  down  from  the  hill-sides.  The  "yaar,"  or  wood, 
of  Hareth,  overhanging  Keilah,  would  be  too  close  at  hand  tt)  oft'er 
safe  shelter. 

A  fine  view  of  the  whole  district  is  to  be  had  from  Tell  Zakariyah, 
a  round  hill  about  800  feet  high,  on  the  north  side  of  Wady  es  Sunt, 
Orchards  of  olives,  figs,  and  otiier  trees,  clothe  tiie  slopes,  which  rise 
on  each  side  of  a  network  of  valleys  in  every  direction.  The  great 
*wady  stretches  out  at  one's  feet  like  a  majestic  stream,  so  sharply  are 
its  sides  bounded  by  the  enclosing  hills  and  mountains,  and  so  propor- 
tionately broad  throughout  is  the  valley  itself.  The  course  of  the 
valley,  from  the  east  to  the  north-west,  is  visible  for  a  long  distance. 
It  is  easy  to  see  how  readily  the  Philistines,  mounting  i'rom  the  plains, 
could  penetrate  where  they  chose  among  the  upper  glens,  and  why  on 
tliis  account  the  Hebrews  had  so  often  met  them  in  fierce  strife  in  this 
neighborhood.  The  ruins  of  Socoh,  with  its  huge  terebinth,  lie  about 
five  miles  to  the  east;  and  the  slopes  a'ld  bare  hills  on  both  sides  of 
the  wady,  on  which  the  opposing  forces  had  stood  arrayed,  are  spread 
out  like  a  picture,  with  the  deep  ravine  of  the  winter  torrents  between 
them,  in  the  middle  of  the  valley.  The  hills  west  of  ^J  ell  Zakariyah, 
and  on  both  sides  of  tiie  Acacia  Valley — Es  Sunt — are  very,  desolate ; 
but  they  seem,  from  the  ruins  on  them,  to  nave  once  been  inhabited. 
Ancien;  caves  and  broken  cisterns  are  frequent  in  the  lower  levels. 
Wild  sage,  in  its  usual  abundance,  covers  large  tracts  ;  but  a  few  flocks 
of  goats  and  a  few  camels,  seeking  doubtful  pasture  on  the  slopes,  are, 
with  their  guardians,  the  only  living  creatures  to  be  seen. 

1  Ps.  xviil.  29.    2  Ps.  xvlil.  33, 34.  ' 


;  .;m:  -^ 


Surah.  Ancient  Zorah,  blrth-plftw  of  8«u»»«>u.    kSoo  imgi'  «W.) 


VI.l 


LOCALITIES  FAMOUS  IN   DAVID'S  LIPB. 


76 


From  Tell  Zakariyah  the  route  lay  down  the  broad  Wady  Akrabeh, 
into  wliicli  we  turned  from  the  Wady  es  Sunt.  For  more  than  half 
an  hour  the  path  lay  over  freshly  ploughed  land,  very  wearisome  to 
cross,  but  at  last  we  reached  the  track  leading  from  Ajjur,  west,  to 
Tell  es  Safleh,  the  goal  of  our  journey  for  the  time.  Men  on  camels 
and  horses  passed  at  times;  and  a  peasant  who  was  ploughing — of 
course  a  Mahommedan — hurled  curses  at  us  as  infidels,  but  we  took 
no  notice. 

Fell  es  Safleh  rises  proudly  to  a  height  of  695  feet  above  the  r  , 
on  its  eastern  edge:  a  lofty  watch-tower  of  the  land,  and  r^  ^josition  of 
fatal  importance  against  the  Hebrews  when  it  was  held  by  the  Philis- 
tines, since  it  commands  the  entrance  to  the  great  valley  of  Elah,  a 
broad  high-road  into  the  heart  of  the  mountains.  It  sinks  steeply  on 
nearly  every  side.  On  the  east  and  north,  narrower  or  wider  glens 
isolate  it  from  the  hilly  landscape,  in  which  it  forms  a  ridge  of  some 
length,  with  the  highest  point  to  the  south.  On  a  plateau  300  feet 
high,  the  sides  nearly  precipitous  except  at  one  point,  and  known  from 
their  white  limestone  as  the  "Shining  Cliff',"  is  tne  village  of  El  Safleh, 
to  which  the  ascent  is  made  by  a  slanting  spur  on  the  north-east.  As 
usual,  we  sought  out  the  dwelling  of  the  sheikh,  which  was  humble 
enough,  though  he  is  thought  rich  and  powerful ;  but  it  offered  us  a 
very  grateful  shelter. 

Towards  evening  the  men  at  the  village  assembled  at  the  sheikh's 
to  see  the  strangers,  and,  if  invited,  to  join  in  supper,  which  followed 
soon  after  sunset.  We  sat  down  to  the  meal  on  the  floor,  in  two  long 
rows ;  the  natives  cross-legged,  we  with  our  legs  out  before  ns.  Two 
dishes  were  brought  in,  the  one  a  strongly-spiced  preparation  of  wheat- 
nleal;  the  other  odorous  of  cut  leeks  and  onions.  For  spoons  we  had 
to  use  pieces  of  freshly- baked  thin  scones,  eating  the  spoon  as  well  as 
its  contents  after  each  mouthful.  Four  of  us  dipped  into  the  same  dish, 
reminded  me  of  the  words  of  our  Lord,  "He  thatdippeth  his  hand  with 
Me  in  the  dish,  the  same  shall  betray  Me."  *  After  eating,  most  of  the 
men  went  out  to  pray  before  the  door,  with  their  faces  to  Mecca;  this 
ovdr,  they  came  in  again,  and  we  all  drew  round  a  fire  of  thorns  and 
brusn  in  the  middle  of  the  floor:  pleasant  and  needful  in  the  cool 
night.  How  abundant  thorns  or  prickly  shrubs  and  trees  are  in  Pales- 
tine, may  be  judged  from  the  fact  that  there  are  a  do2sen  words  in  the 
Bible  for  sucn  growths.  All  hot  countries,  indeed,  abound  in  thorny 
vegetation,  which  is  the  result  of  the  leaves  being  left  undeveloped 
through  want  of  water,  in  such  a  high  temperature ;  for  thorns  are  only 
abortive  leaves.  When  dry  they  are  necessarily  very  inflammable,  as 
in  fact  everything  is  in  the  hot  summer  or  autumn,  as  the  Hebrews 
knew  to  their  cost  from  the  earliest  times.^    Allusions  to  their  being 

lMatt.XXTi.28.   2£x.xxU.«. 


76 


THE   HOLY   LAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


(Cha». 


used  as  fuel  are  frequent  in  Scripture.  "Before  your  pots  can  feel  the 
thorns,"  says  the  Psuhnist,  '*lle  shall  take  them  [or  whirl  them]  away 
as  with  a  whirlwind,  both  living,  and  in  His  wrath,"'  a  verse  whicli 
apparently  means  that  the  whirlwind  of  God's  wrath  will  carry  oft"  the 
wicked  as  a  storm-wind  carries  away  botli  the  burning  and  the  yet 
unkindled  thorns,  before  the  pots  have  felt  their  heat,  which,  with  such 
swiftly-kindling  fuel,  they  would  do  almost  at  once.  The  fire  of  thorns, 
bright  for  a  moment,  but  speedily  sinking  and  quenched  if  fresh  fuel 
be  not  added,  is  used  as  a  comparison  for  the  fate  of  the  nations  who, 
in  one  of  the  Psalms,  are  saia  to  compass  the  sacred  writer  about.'-* 
The  laughter  of  the  fool,  says  Ecclesiastes,  is  like  the  crackling  of 
thorns  under  a  pot.^  In  an  Arab  tent  you  are  prettj'  sure  to  see  a  i)ile 
of  thorns  in  one  corner  to  keep  alight  the  tent-fire.  In  a  country  like 
Palestine,  moreover,  it  is  a  yearly  custom  to  set  fire  to  the  thorns  on  the 
plains  and  hill-sides  after  the  harvest  has  been  secured,  just  as  tlie  fur/e 
IS  burned  on  our  own  hill-sides,  to  clear  the  ground  and  enrich  the  soil 
with  the  wood-ashes.  A  time  is  chosen  when  the  wind  ia  high  and 
blows  from  a  direction  which  will  not  spre  id  the  flames  dangerously, 
and  then  a  match  kindles  a  conflagration  wl  ich  soon  extends  lor  miles, 
lighting  up  the  night  with  a  wild  brighti  ess.  Wherever  a  tent  is 
pitched  in  the  open  wilderness,  fires  of  thorr.  \  are  speedily  ablaze  alter 
sunset,  at  once  to  give  heat,  to  shed  light,  C['  whicn  Easterns  are  pas- 
sionately fond,  and  to  scare  away  thieves  and  wild  animals.  It  is  a 
terrible  picture  of  swift  and  helpless  destruction  when  Nahum  says  ot 
the  Assyrians,  "  While  they  be  folden  together  as  thorns,  and  while 
they  are  drunken  as  drunkards,  they  shall  oe  devoured  as  stubble  fully 
dry."^  In  many  parts  thorns  are  so  matted  and  tangled  together 
as  to  be  impenetrable.  The  Assyrians  might  boast  of  being  unap- 
proachable, like  theue;  they  might  boast  in  their  cups  that  no  power 
could  harm  them,  yet  they  would  be  no  more  before  the  flames  of 
the  wrath  of  Jehovah  than  stubble  or  thorns  withered  to  tinder  by 
the  sun.^ 

The  enactment  of  Moses  alluded  to  on  the  preceding  page,  that  "if 
fire  break  out,  and  catch  in  thorns,  so  that  the  stacks  of  corn,  or  the 
standing  corn,  or  the  field,  be  consumed  therewith,  he  that  kindled  the 
fire  shall  surely  make  restitution,"*  refers  to  other  uses  of  these  plants. 
In  ancient  times  thorns  were  often  made  into  hedges  round  gardens 
near  towns,  as  they  still  are,'  and  they  grow  wild,  not  only  round  all 
patches  of  grain  in  the  open  country,  but  largely,  too,  among  them. 
Watchmen  are  kept,  as  harvest  approaches,  with  the  duty  of  guarding 
against  fire  as  one  of  their  chief^  cares.  With  the  thorns,  dry,  tall 
weeds  and  grass  are  intermingled,  and  a  spark  falling  on  these  sweeps 

1  Ps.  Iviil.  9.   S  rs.  cxviii.  12.   3  Eccles.  vii.  6.   4  Mab.  1. 10.    5  Geikie,  Hours  with  the  Bibte,  v.  p. 
U8.    6  Ex.  xxH.  6.    7  Ecclus.  xxviil.  24.  "^      i- 


And  he  came  up  nnd  told  his  fiither  and 
his  mother,  mid  Hai<l,  I  have  heon  a  woman 
inTimnuti)  of  llio  tiauKl'teiH  of  tht>PliiliB- 
tln»'H  ;  now  therefore  get  her  for  nie  to  wife. 

Tlien  went  HaniHon  down,  and  hiH  father 
and  his  mother,  to  Timnath  :  and  behold  a 
yoiiiiK  lion  roared  against  him.  And  the 
Hpirit  of  the  Lord  came  mightily  upon  him, 
nnd  he  rent  him  as  he  would  have  rent  a 
kitl.  and  he  had  nothing  in  hia  hand:  but  he 
told  nut  hiH  father  or  his  mother  what  he 
had  i\onv.— Judy.  xiv.  8,  5,  «. 


TJBNIflH,  AN^UBNT  TIMNATH,  BPMB  OF  SAMSON'S  PRIDE.   (See  pa^e  9f,) 


ie  Bible,  v.  p. 


VIJ 


LOCALITIES  FAMOUS  IN  DAVID's  IJFE. 


77 


the  whole  into  a  flame  to  which  the  ripe  grain  can  offer  no  resistance, 
being  itself  inflammable  as  tinder.  Moses  required  only  restitution  of 
the  value  destroyed,  but  the  Arabs  of  the  present  day  are  not  so 
lenient.  "In  returning  to  Tiberias,"  says  Burcichardt,  "I  was  several 
times  reprimanded  by  my  gi  lUe  for  not  taking  care  of  the  lighted 
tobacco  that  fell  from  my  pipe.  The  whole  of  the  mountain  is  thickly 
covered  with  dry  grass,  which  readily  takes  fire,  and  the  slightest 
breath  of  air  instantly  spreads  the  conflagration  far  over  the  country, 
to  the  great  risk  of  the  peasant's  harvest.  The  Arabs  who  inhabit  the 
valley  of  the  Jordan  invariably  put  to  death  the  person  who  is  known 
to  have  been  even  thi  innocent  cause  of  firing  the  grass,  and  they  have 
made  a  public  law  among  themselves  that  even  in  the  height  of  intes- 
tine warfare  no  one  shall  attempt  to  set  an  enemy's  country  on  fire. 
One  evening  while  at  Tiberias  I  saw  a  large  fire  on  the  opposite  side 
of  the  lake,  which  spread  vsrith  great  velocity  for  two  days,  till  its  pro- 
gress was  cliecked  by  the  Wady  Feik."  * 

The  evening  passed  very  pleasantly  in  conversation,  smoking,  and 
drinking  coffee^  Everyone  was  friendly,  and  I  felt  myself  as  safe  as  if 
I  had  been  in  ray  own  house.  One  could  fancy  that  our  Divine  Master 
must  often  have  passed  the  evening  in  just  such  a  house :  the  mud 
divan  or  bench  along  the  wall.  His  seat,  as  it  was  ours,  and  the  wood 
fire  crackling  as  brightly  in  the  centre  of  the  chamber.  The  goats  in 
the  little  courtyard  had  early  Ficended  to  the  roof,  their  sleeping-place, 
by  the  rude  steps  outside  the  house,  and  the  human  guests  left,  one  vy 
one,  about  nine — even  the  sheikh  retiring ;  so  that  we  remained  alone, 
except  for  some  tired  peasants,  who  stretched  themselves  out  on  the 
mats,  and  covered  themselves  with  their  outer  garment.  There  could 
be  no  better  comment  on  the  Mosaic  law:  "If  thou  at  all  take  thy 
neighbor's  raiment  [upper  garment]  to  pledge,  thou  shalt  deliver  it  unto 
him  by  that  the  sun  goeth  down:  for  that  is  his  only  covering,  it  is 
his  outer  garment  for  his  skin:  wherein  shall  he  sleepf  "  *  The  law  is 
conceived  in  the  same  nerciFul  spirit  that  prohibited  an  upper  mill- 
stone from  being  taken  in  pledge.' 

After  a  time  the  fire  died  out,  but  a  feeble  oil-lamp  still  gave  somo 
light.  This  went  out  about  midnight,  but  it  was  our  fault.  Nohousb, 
however  pot>r,  is  left  without  a  light  burning  in  it  all  night ;  the  house- 
wife rising  betimes  to  secure  its  continuance  by  replenishing  the  lamp 
with  oil.     If  a  lamp  go  out,  li  is  a  fatal  omen.     "  The  light  of  the 

wicked,"  says  Bildad,  "shall  be  put  out the  light  shall  be 

dark  in  his  tent,  and  his  lamp,  above  him,  shall  be  put  out."*  "The 
light  of  the  righteous  rejoices,"  says  the  Book  of  rroverbs,  "  but  the 
lamp  of  the  wicked  shall  be  put  out."  *      "  How  often  is  the  candle 

1  Burckhardt,  pp.  331, 2.    9.  Ex.  xxli.  26,  27;  Deut.  xxiv.  13;  Job x^ii. 6;  Job  Kxiy.  10.    3  Pettt 
JJ^)V,6,   4  Job  xvin.  6, 6  (».  v.).    ft  F|roy,  x}U,  9,  ,         ^       ,        -hmt 


78 


THE   HOLY   LAND   AND  THE   BIBLE. 


[CHAi*. 


K 


[lamp]  of  the  wicked  put  out! "  cries  Job.^  Jeremiah,  painting  the 
ruin  impending  over  his  country,  can  find  no  more  touching  metaphor 
than  that  God  wouJd  "take  from  it  the  light  of  tlie  candl'^  "  [lamp]  ;2 
and  St.  John  repeats,  as  part  of  the  doom  of  the  mystical  Babylon,  that 
"  the  light  of  a  candle  [lamp]  shall  shine  no  more  at  all  in  it."^  The 
promise  to  David,  implying  the  permanence  of  his  I'ne,  was  that  Jeho- 
vah would  give  him  a  lamp  for  his  sons  always.* 

Morning  is  always  interesting  in  the  East.  As  we  walked  through 
the  very  narrow  lanes  among  the  houses,  the  peo])le  were  driving  their 
camels,  sheep,  and  goats  afield.  Here  and  there  a  man  was  on  his  way 
to  his  daily  work,  with  his  plough  on  his  shoulder.  A  strong  castle 
once  stood  on  the  highest  point  of  the  hill,  the  Blanche  Garde — "the 
White  Guard" — of  the  Crusaders,  built  by  tliem  in  A.  d.  1144  as  a 
defence  against  the  inhabitants  of  Ascalon.  Only  a  few  stones  of  its 
walls  now  remain;  the  rest  have  been  carried  oft' to  various  towns  as 
building  material.  The  view  from  the  hill-top  was  magnificent.  The 
mountai  :s  of  Judah  rose  grandly,  step  above  step,  from  north-east  to 
south-west.  Nearly  straight  north,  beyond  a  magnificent  expanse  of 
fertile  plain,  the  lofty  tower  of  Ramleh  was  distinctly  visible,  and  the 
same  vast  expanse  of  plain  stretched  to  the  south :  while  on  the 
west,  the  deep  blue  of  the  Mediterranean  reached  away  to  join  the  rich 
sapphire  of  the  skies.  Over  twenty  smaller  or  larger  villages  and 
hamlets  were  within  view,  but  there  were  no  hnbitations  between  them ; 
want  of  security  compelling  ^very  one  to  live  in  some  community. 
Hence,  after  all,  the  population  was  very  limited. 

As  we  descended  to  tlie  plain  by  the  western  side,  which  is  partly 
terraced,  ii^any  doves  flew  round  us.  These  rock  pigeors  are  found  in 
considerable  numbers  in  the  clefts  of  the  hill-sides  of  Palestine,  and  are 
often  alluded  to  in  the  Bible.  "O  my  dove,  that  art  in  the  clefts  of 
the  rocks,"  says  the  Beloved.^  "O  ye  that  Owell  iii  Moab,"  cries 
Jeremiah,  "leave  the  cities,  and  dwell  in  the  rock,  and  be  like  the  dovf 
that  maketh  her  nest  in  the  sides  of  the  hole's  mouth."  ^  There  are 
many  large  caves  on  the  north  side  of  the  hill,  and  some  excavations 
which  are  used  for  storing  grain.  Water  is  procured  chiefly  from  a 
well  in  a  valley  to  the  north.  There  are  no  masonry  remains  on  the 
village  table-land. 

Tell  es  Safieh  is  thought  by  Capt.  Condor  and  Prof.  Porter  to  be  the 
site  of  the  Philistine  city  of  Gath,  and  as  I  looked  back  at  it,  with  its 
lofty  plateau,  now  ocGU))ied  by  the  village  we  had  left,  such  a  natural 
fortress  seemed  wonderfully  suited  for  a  strong  city.  Defended  by 
walls  and  gates,  it  must  have  been  almost  impregnable  in  ancient  times. 
It  is  not,  indeed,  certain  that  the  identification  is  correct,  for  the  old 

l.Iobxxl.  17.    2  .Icr.  XXV.  10.    3  Hev,  xvJil.  23.    4  2Klngs  vlii.  19;  1  Kings  xv.  4;  xl.  86.    6' Cant. 
U.  14.    6  .ler.  xlviii.  28. 


I 


[CHAi\ 

ting  the 
etaphor 
imp] ;  2 
on,  that 
»  The 
at  Jeho- 

th  rough 
ng  their 
his  way 
ig  castle 
e— "  the 
144  as  a 
es  of  its 
towns  as 
It.  The 
li-east  to 
pause  of 
,  and  tlie 

on  the 
I  the  rich 
ages  and 
in  them ; 

munity. 

is  partly 
oiind  in 
and  are 
clefts  of 
D,"  cries 
he  dove 
here  are 
avations 
y  from  a 
s  on  the 

o  be  the 
with  its 

natural 
rided  by 
nt  times. 

the  old 

S6.  6' Cant. 


VIJ 


LOCALITIES  FAMOUS  IN  DAVID'S  LIFE. 


79 


name  has  not  been  found  associated  with  the  spot ;  but,  apart  from 
this,  probabilities  are  very  much  in  its  favor.  If  it  be  the  old  Gath, 
what  memories  cluster  round  the  spot  I  Here,  and  at  Gaza  and  Ash- 
dod,  gathered  the  remnant  of  the  huge  race  known  in  the  early  history 
of  Palestine  as  the  giants.  Goliath,  a  towering  man-mountain,  nine 
feet  high,^  once  walked  through  its  lanes,  then  perhaps  not  unlike 
those  we  had  left,  and  so  too,  it  may  be,  did  Ishbibenob— ■"  mv  seat  is 
at  Nob"  2 — the  head  of  whose  spear ^  weighed  300  shekels  or  brass — 
about  eight  pounds — only  half  as  heavy,  however,  as  Goliath's — and 
the  other  three  sons  "born  to  the  giant  in  Gath."*  These  colossal 
warriors  seem  to  have  been  the  last  of  their  race,  which  we  do  not  need 
to  conceive  of  as  all  gigantic,  but  only  as  noted  for  boasting  some  extra 
tall  men  among  a  people  famous  for  their  statute.  The  Goths  in  old 
times  were  spoken  of  in  the  same  way  by  their  contemporaries  as  a 
race  of  giants,  but  though  they  were  huge  compared  with  the  popula- 
tions they  invaded,  giants  were  a  very  rare  exception  among  them,  as 
among  other  nations. 

It  was  to  Gath  that  David  lied,  after  Saul  had  massacred  the  priests 
at  Nob  for  giving  him  food.  It  lay  nearest  the  mountains  of  Judah, 
and  was  easily  reached,  down  the  great  Wady  Sorek,  or  Elah,  the 
mouth  of  which  it  commanded,  if  Tell  es  Safieh  be  Gath.  But  his 
reception,  at  least  by  the  retamers  of  Achish,  the  king  of  1;his  part  of 
the  Philist  ne  territory,  was  far  from  encouraging,  as  indeed  was  not 
wonderful,  remembering  his  fame  among  their  enemies  the  Hebrews, 
and  his  triumph  over  their  great  champion  Goliath.  The  Fifty-sixth 
Psalm,  ascribed  to  this  period,  describes  his  position  as  almost  desper- 
ate. His  "enemies  were  daily  like  to  swallow  him  up;  they  wrested 
his  words;  they  marked  his  steps;  they  lay  in  wait  to  take  his  life."  ^ 
Under  these  circumstances  he  very  naturally  had  recourse  to  any  strat- 
agem that  promised  him  safety,  and  hence,  knowing  the  popular  rev- 
erence for  those  mentally  affected,  pretended  he  was  insane.  Supersti- 
tious awe  for  such  as  are  so  is  still  common  in  the  East.  I  myself  saw 
a  lunatic,  full-fed  and  bulky,  with  nothing  on  but  a  piece  of  rough  mat- 
ting round  his  waist,  walking  over  the  bridge  of  boats  at  Constantino- 
ple, followed  by  a  crowd  who  treated  him  with  the  utmost  reverence. 
Insane  persons  dangerous  to  society  are  kept  in  confinement  in  Egypt, 
but  those  who  are  harmless  wander  about  and  are  regarded  as  saints.* 
Most  of  the  reputed  holy  men  on  the  Nile  are,  indeed,  either  lunatics, 
idiots,  or  impostors.  Some  of  them  may  be  seen  eating  straw,  not 
unfrequently  mixed  with  broken  glass,  seeking  to  attract  observation 
by  this  and  other  strange  acts,  and  earning  &om  the  ignorant  com- 
munity by  these  extravagances  the  title  of  a  "welee,"  or  favorite  of 

1  Thenius.  2  Theniua  suggests  an  emend&tion  which  would  make  the  name  mean— "he  who 
dwells  on  the  height."  8  VulgM  "  IfPP  o(  tl|e  spear."  4  2  Sam.  uL  ^  6  Ps  '«{.  2, 6t  Lame, 
Modtm  E(n/pUaru,l.2H,  "   *  .        t 


80 


THE   HOLY   LAND   AND  THE  BIBLE. 


[Chip. 


Heaven. 1  David,  therefore,  had  method  in  the  madness,  which  he 
feigned  when  driven  to  extremities  in  Gath.  But  after  such  an  experi- 
ence, and  especially  after  the  fatal  march  to  Jezreel,  which  ended  in 
the  death  of  Saul  and  Jonathan,  it  is  not  wonderful  that  he  set  himself 
determinedly  to  break  down  the  Phihstine  power,  so  as  to  free  Israel 
from  constant  peril.  While  he  was  carrying  out  tins  vital  object  Gath 
fell  into  his  hands,  ^  and  continued  to  be  a  Hebrew  fortress  for  some 
generations*  Under  Hazael  of  Damascus,  liowever,  we  find  it  added 
to  the  Syrian  dominions,*  but  Uzziah  retook  and  destroyed  it,  so  that 
from  that  time,  2,700  years  ago,  it  vanishes  from  history,  a  short  allu- 
sion to  it  by  the  Prophet  Micah  excepted.^ 

On  his  second  flight  to  Gath,  some  years  later,  David  seems  to  have 
fared  better.  Achish  a[)pears  to  have  persuaded  his  people  that  it  was 
a  highly  politic  step  to  welcome,  as  an  ally,  one  so  famous  in  the  past 
as  an  enemy.  In  keeping  with  this,  and  to  remove  him  from  possible 
collision  with  the  fighing  men  of  Gath,  a  village  was  given  him — 
Ziklag — deep  in  the  south  country  of  Judah,  where  he  would  at  once 
be  useful,  as  was  no  doubt  thought,  in  defending  the  Philistine  terri- 
tory from  attacks  in  that  direction,  and  safely  remote  from  the  centre 
of  the  little  kingdom.  Once  in  his  distant  exile,  he  must  have  found 
himself  committed  to  a  war  of  defence  against  the  lawless  Amalekites 
— restless,  tent-dwelling  Bedouins,  who  lived  by  plunder,  and  had 
always  been  the  enemies  of  the  Hebrews.**  He  may  have  found  these 
fierce  marauders  raiding  against  the  south  country  of  Judah  and  the 
local  Arab  tribes  related  to  Israel  by  blood,  and  thus  it  may  have 
been  true  enough  when  he  told  Achish  that  he  had  been  fighting  in 
those  parts;  the  Philistine  at  once  concluding  that  he  had  been 
attacking  the  Hebrews. 

The  plains  round  Blanche  Garde  are  famous  for  some  of  the  most 
romantic  deeds  of  Richard  the  Lion-hearted,  bui  they  are  silent  enough 
now.  The  landscape  rises  and  falls  in  low  swells;  fallows  alternating 
with  sown  fields;  the  soil  nearly  black,  and  evidently  very  fruitful. 
These  great  plains  of  Philistia  and  Sharon  rony  yet  have  a  future,  if 
the  curse  of  God,  in  the  form  of  Turkish  ru^o,  be  removed.  The  gar- 
dens at  Joppa  show  what  glorious  vegetation  water  and  industry  can 
create,  e\'en  where  the  invading  sand  has  to  be  fought,  and  we  may 
imagine  Avhat  results  similar  irrigation  and  industry  would  create  over 
the  wide  (jxpanse.  The  scarcity  of  wood  is  the  one  feature  that  lessens 
the  general  charm,  for  excepting  the  orchards  and  olive-groves,  often 
very  small,  round  isolated  villages,  there  are  no  trees.  So  much  is 
this  the  case  indeed  that  here,  as  in  Egypt,  the  only  fuel  in  many  parts 
for  cooking  or  heating,  if  there  be  no  thorns,  is  dried  camel  or  cow 

1  Ibid.,  1. 291, 292.   2  1  Chron.  xylii.  1.   ?  2  Chion,  xl.  8.   4  2  Kings  xll.  17.    6  MIc.  i.  10,   9  1  Sftm, 
XXVll.  8, 


IBwm, 


Valky  and  ruins  of  Oharetun  seen  from  the  care  of  Adullam.   (SeepageTl.) 


VI.1 


LOCALITIES  FAMOUS  IN   DAVID'S  LIFE. 


81 


dung  made  into  cakes.    Children,  espeoinlly  girls,  may  bo  seen  eagerly 

§athering  the  materials  for  it,  wnei*ever  (bund,  or  kneading  them  into 
isks,  which  are  then  stuck  against  a  wall,  or  laid  out  on  the  earth  to 
dry.^  In  use,  however,  this  iUel  is  not  at  uU  objectionable,  for  it 
emits  no  disagreeable  smell,  and  oommunicatos  no  bad  taste  to  food 
prepared  with  it  In  its  burning  it  is  very  like  pimt,  as  it  may  well 
be,  since  both  are  really  only  so  much  woody  fibre. 

The  little  village  of  Tell  et  Turmua  lies  about  six  miles  nearly  west 
from  Tell  es  Safieh,  on  a  low  rise  of  ground.  Near  at  hand  is  a  deep, 
well-built  cistern,  covered  by  a  low  dome;  a  channel  connecting  it 
with  a  tank  close  by,  about  three  feet  deep,  wliich  ia  filled,  to  save 
labor  and  time  in  watering  the  flocks  and  herds,  not  very  numerous 
in  such  a  community.  The  houses  wero  no  longer  "built,  as  in  the 
hills,  of  limestone,  but  of  unburnt  bricks,  made  of  olaok  earth  mixed 
with  stubble.  A  few  men  sat  about,  as  usual,  idly  gossiping,  though 
it  was  morning — the  best  time  to  work. 

The  road  to  Ashdod  from  Tell  et  Turmus  is  uiong  the  bottom  of  :>, 
series  of  swelling  waves  of  land,  which  tirend  to  the  north-west,  three 
small  villages  forming  the  only  population.  TI»o  plain  is  seamed  with 
dry  watercourses  or  wadys,  worn  deep  by  winter  torrents.  This  is  the 
characteristic  of  nearly  all  streams  in  Palestine.  During  the  winter 
months,  when  useless  for  irrigation,  they  are  often  foaming  rivers; 
but  in  the  hot  summer,  when  they  would  bo  of  priceless  value,  their 
dry  bed  is  generally  the  road  from  one  point  to  another.  The  bare 
sides  of  the  hillfi,  iii  many  cases  long  ago  denuded  of  all  soil,  retain 
very  little  of  the  tremenaous  rain-storms  that  break  at  times  over 
them,  in  winter  or  even  spring.  The  water  rushes  over  the  sheets  of 
rock  as  it  would  from  the  roof  of  a  house,  and  converging,  as  it 
descends,  into  minor  streams  in  the  higher  wadys,  theso  sweep  on  to  a 
common  channel  in  some  central  valley,  and,  tlius  united,  swell  in  an 
incredibly  short  time  into  a  deep,  troubled,  roaring  flood,  which  fllls 
the  whole  bottom  of  the  wady  with  an  irresistible  torrent.  Some 
friends,  caught  in  a  storm  in  Samaria,  told  me  they  had  to  flee  from 
their  tents  to  hi^er  ground,  while  still  half^dressed,  to  escape  the 
sweep  of  the  stream  which  they  knew  would  presently  overwhelm  the 
spot  on  which  their  tents  had  been  pitohea.  The  same  thing,  on  a 
greater  scale,  is  seen  in  the  Sinai  mountains.  **I  was  encamped,"  says 
the  Rev.  F.  W.  Holland,^  "in  Wady  Feiran,  near  the  base  of  Jebel 
Serbal,  when  a  tremendous  thunderstorm  burst  upon  us.  After  little 
more  than  an  hour's  rain  the  water  rose  so  rapidly  in  the  previously 
dry  wady  that  I  had  to  run  for  my  lifb,  and  with  great  difficulty  suc- 
ceeded in  saving  my  tent  and  goods;  my  boots,  which  I  had  not  time 
to  pick  up,  being  washed  away.    In  less  than  two  houis  a  dry. desert 

1  Ezek.ly.  15.  2  BeeoveryqfJentxdemtjf.ba, 


d2 


THE  HOLT  XAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


[ObaP. 


wady,  upwards  of  800  yards  broad,  was  turned  into  a  foaming  torrent 
from  eight  to  ten  feet  deep,  roaring  and  tearing  down,  and  bearing 
everything  before  it — tangled  masses  of  tatnarislcs,  hundreds  of  beauti- 
ful palm-trees,  scores  of  sheep  and  goats,  camels  and  donkeys,  and 
even  men,  women,  ar""  children;  for  a  whole  encamjmient  of  Arabs 
was  washed  away  a  few  miles  above  me.  The  storm  commenced  at 
five  o'clock  in  the  evening;  at  half-past  nine  the  waters  were  rapidly 
subsiding,  and  it  was  evident  that  the  flood  had  s])ent  its  'brce.  In 
the  morning  a  gently-flowing  stream,  but  a  few  yards  broad,  and  a  few 
inches  deep,  was  all  tliat  remained  of  it.  But  the  whole  bed  of  the 
valley  was  changed.  Here,  great  heaps  of  boulders  were  })iled  up 
where  hollows  had  been  the  day  before;  there,  holes  had  taken  the 
place  of  banks  covered  with  trees.  Two  miles  of  tamarisk-wood  which 
was  situated  above  the  palm-groves  had  been  completely  swept  down 
to  the  sea."  Our  Lord  must  have  had  such  unforseen  and  irresistible 
rain-floods  in  His  mind  whep.  He  spoke  of  the  foolish  man  who  "built 
his  house  upon  the  sand:  and  the  rain  descended,  and  the  floods  came, 
and  the  winds  blew,  and  beat  upon  that  house;  and  it  fell;"^  or  as  it 
is  repeated  in  St.  Luke,  "who,  without  a  foundatioii,  built  an  house 
upon  the  earth;  against  which  tlie  stream  did  beat  vehemently,  and 
immediately  it  fell."'^  Job,  also,  must  have  liave  had  such  passing 
floods  in  his  thoughts  wlien  he  spoke  of  his  three  friends  ns  iiaving 
"dealt  deceitfully  as  a  brook,  as  the  chnnnel  of  brooks  that  ])n8s  away; 
which  are  black  by  reason  of  tl»c  ice,  and  ivherein  the  snow  hideth 
itself:  what  time  they  wax  warm  [or  shrink],  they  vanisli:  when  it  is 
hot,  they  are  consumed  out  of  their  place." ^  Tiie  streams  from  Leb- 
anon, and  also  from  the  high  mountains  which  the  patriarch  could  see 
in  the  north  from  the  Haurdn,  where  he  lived,  sencT  down  great  floods 
of  dark  and  troubled  waters  in  spring,  when  the  ice  and  snow  or' their 
summits  are  melting;  but  they  drv  up  under  the  heat  of  summer,  and 
the  track  of  the  torrent,  with  its  cfiaos  of  boulders,  stones,  and  gravel, 
seems  as  if  it  had  not  known  a  stream  for  ages.  So  Job's  friends  had 
in  former  times  seemed  as  if  they  would  be  true  to  him  for  ever,  but 
their  friendship  had  vanished  like  the  rush  of  tlie  torrent  that  had 

{)assed  away.  The  beautifhl  figure  of  the  Psalmist,  to  express  hi^ 
onging  after  God,  is  familiar  to  us  all:  he  panted  for  Him  "as  the 
hart  panteth  after  the  water-brooks."^  Hunted  on  the  mountains, 
and  far  from  any  cooling  stream,  finding,  moreover,  when  it  came  to  a 
torrent-bed,  that  the  channel  offered  nothing  but  heated  stones  and 
rocks,  how  it  would  pant  for  some  shady  hollow,  in  which,  perchance, 
water  might  still  be  found !  The  Psalm  was  evidently  written  in  a 
hilly  region,  where  the  sound  of  water,  dashing  down  the  narrow 
gorge,  could  be  heard  from  above.     As  the  wearied  and  thirsty  gazelle 

1  Matt.  vii.  26.   2  Luke  vi.  49.   3  Job  vl.  16-17. 


hi  9 


Oallc-ry  with  (fiiest  chamber  In  the  MoiiaRtf>rr  of  St.  Catherine.    (See  page  77.) 


VII.J 


ABHDOD — MEJDEL. 


88 


panted  to  reach  it  from  the  soorohing  heights,  so  yearned  the  soul  of 
the  troubled  one  for  its  Ood  I 

By  tlie  way,  what  does  David  mean  by  "  deep  calleth  unto  deep  at 
the  noise  of  Thy  waterspouts:    all  Thy  waves  and  Thy  billows  are 

gone  over  me?'^*  Dr.  Tristram  thinks  lie  alludes  to  the  sound  oi 
ashing  waters,  in  such  a  region  as  Ilermon,  where,  in  times  of  flood, 
torrents  leap  down  the  hills  and  resound  from  the  depths.*  "  In  win- 
tor,"  writes  another,  who  fancifully  imagines  the  Psalmist  a  prisoner 
in  the  Castle  of  Banias,  "  and  when  the  snow  is  melting  in  the  spring, 
ondle.s.s  masses  of  water  roar  down  the  gorge  of  Kashabeh,  over  which 
the  cnstlo  rises  about  700  feet.  Perhaps  it  was  when  the  sacred  poet, 
coiilhied  within  its  walls,  looking  into  the  awful  depth  below,  listened 
to  the  raging  and  foaming  waters,  that  he  uttered  these  words,  at  the 
thought  of  his  distant  homo."  Discarding  the  imaginary  imprison- 
ment, the  explanation  seems  correct.  David  writes  in  a  land  of  moun- 
tain streams,  and  feels  as  if  all  their  thundering  waves  had  broken 
over  him.'*  Waterspouts  in  our  sense  are  not  alluded  to  here,  though 
they  arc  common  on  tho  sea-coast ;  nor  are  they  mentioned  in  the 
Bible.  Tho  word  om[)loyed  in  tho  Psalm  is  found  in  only  one  passage 
besides,  where  David  ])romiscs  the  command-in-chief  to  anyone  wlio 
will  clamber  up  tho  water-shaft  which  opened  on  the  plateau  of  Jeru- 
salem, then  called  Jebus :  a  feat  performed  by  Joab.* 


CHAPTER  VII. 


ASHDOD — MEJDEB. 

AaHDOT),  now  Esdud,  one  of  the  five  cities  of  the  Philistines,  is  only 
a  village,  with  a  very  few  stone  houses  (the  rest  being  oP  mud),  one 
story  high,  enclosed  in  small  courts  with  mud  walls.  Doors  are  as  a 
rule  a  superfluity  in  Palestine;  or  at  best  are  represented  by  ghosts  of 
what  may,  perhaps,  have  once  been  doors.  The  "town"  rises  on  the 
slope;s  of  a  low  swell,  itself  commanded  by  one  somewhat  higher,  for- 
merly the  site  of  th j  castle,  but  now  covered  with  gardens  hedged  with 
tall  prickly  pear;  impenetrable,  but  hideous,  and  taking  up  a  great 
deal  of  room.  This  hedge  grows  over  a  thick  wall  of  stone,  regularly 
cut  and  well  dressed,  beneath  which,  the  peasants  aver,  they  have  seen 
several  courses  of  an  ancient  wall,  of  great  cut  stones.    There  are, 

1  Ph.  -  lit.  1.  2  Ps.  xlii.  7.  3  Tristram,  larad,  p.  298.  4  This  is  tlie  explanation  of  Tholuok,  Hitzig 
Biebm,  and  Delitzsch.  5  2  Sam.  v.  8.  ' 


84. 


THE  HOLY  LAND   AND  THE   BIBLE. 


[Chap. 


II 


indeed,  below  and  round  Aslidod,  a  number  of  walls,  some  of  them 
relics  of  its  old  glory,  Tlie  soil  is  a  lialf-oonsolidated  sand,  light,  of 
course,  but  fertile;  but  how  long  it  will  remjiin  even  as  good  as  at 
present  is  a  question,  since  tiie  moving  sand-dunes  from  the  sea-coast, 
two  miles  and  a  half  oft',  have  come  almost  to  the  village,  and  advance 
year  by  year.  It  is  already,  indeed,  a  pitiful  sight  to  notice  olives 
and  fig-trees  half  buried  ;  their  owners  striving  hard,  season  after  sea- 
son, to  shovel  away  the  sand  fi-om  their  trunks,  till  they  stand,  in  some 
cases,  almost  in  pits,  which  W(»Lild  close  over  them  if  the  efforts  to  save 
them  were  intermitted  even  for  a  short  time. 

In  the  court  before  the  village  mosque  lies  one  last  trace  of  the  long 
past — an  ancient  sarco[)hagus,  seven  feet  long,  antl  broad  in  proportion; 
its  side  adorned  with  sculptured  garlands,  from  which  hang  bunches 
of  grapes,  the  emblems  of  the  Promised  Land.  Long  ago  some  rich 
Hebrew,  doubtless, lay  in  it;  his  friends  thinking  he  was  safely  house.i 
till  the  last  morning.  But  here  stands  the  coffin — empt^'  for  ages ! 
South  of  the  mosque  are  the  ruins  of  a  great  mediaeval  khan,  seventy- 
three  steps  long  on  the  side,  but  not  so  broad ;  the  wall  seven  feet 
tliick,  but  not  very  high.  Inside  there  is  an  open  court,  in  Arab  style, 
with  long  galleries,  arcades,  chambers,  and  magazines,  for  a  traffic  not 
now  existing.  Some  broken  granite  pillars  lie  on  the  ground,  and  a 
marble  column  serves  as  threshold  at  the  doorway.  The  discovery  of 
the  passage  to  India  round  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  destroyed  the  old 
overland  trade  from  the  East,  and  the  Palestine  towns  on  the  caravan 
route  fell  with  it.  Beyond  this  comparatively  modern  ruin  is  a  large 
marsh,  from  the  overflovv^ing  of  the  wadys  during  the  winter;  so  much 
water  being  left  b3hind  as  still  to  show  itself  even  as  late  as  April. 
The  water  supply  of  the  village  is  obtained  from  rain-ponds  with  mud 
banks,  and  a  w^ell  to  the  east,  from  which  a  camel  was  drawing  up 
water  by  the  help  of  a  water-wheel.  Near  it  there  are  a  few  date- 
palms  and  some  small  figs,  and  beyond  them  a  small  grove  of  remarka- 
bly fine  olives.  The  villagers  resemble  the  Egyptian  peasantry,  both 
in  dress  and  appearance,  much  more  than  they  do  their  Palestine  fel- 
low-countrymen ;  why,  who  can  accurately  tell  ? 

Aslidod  was  one  of  the  towns  inhabited  by  the  remnant  of  the  gigan- 
tic Anakim,  in  the  days  of  Joshua,^  nnd  gloried  in  a  great  temple  of 
Dagon,  whose  worship  had  here  its  head-quarters.  This  god,  half  man 
and  half  fish,2  was  the  national  god  of  the  Philistines  ;  Derketo,  a  coun- 
terpart of  Astarte,^  or  Ashtaroth,  being  his  female  complement,  with 
Ascalon  for  her  chief  seat.  Dagon,  however,  was  a  purely  Assyrio- 
Babylonian  deity ;  the  Nineveh  marbles  showing  both  the  name  and 
the  fish-man,  as  describe  \  in  the  Book  of  Samuel.  This  union  of  the 
human  figure  and  that  of  a  fish  apparently  arose  from  the  natuxal  asso- 
1  Josh.  xi.  22.   2  1  Sam.  v.  4;  see  margin.  3  1  Sam.  xxxi.  10. 


[Chap. 


le  of  them 
id,  light,  of 
good  as  at 
e  sea-coast, 
lid  advance 
:)tice  olives 
n  after  sca- 
ld, i  n  some 
arts  to  save 

of  the  long 
proportion; 
ng  bunches 
)  some  rich 
I'ely  house.! 


for 


ages : 


'3' 

111,  seventy - 

I  seven  feet 

Arab  style, 

I  traffic  not 

>und,  and  a 

I  i  SCO  very  of 

yed  the  old 

;he  caravan 

ii  is  a  large 

so  much 

c  as  April. 

with  mud 

Irawing  up 

a  few  date- 

f  remarka- 

antry,  both 

destine  fel- 

the  gigan- 
t  temple  of 
i,  half  man 
)to,  a  coun- 
ment,  with 
y  Assyrio- 
!  name  and 
lion  of  the 
tuxul  asso- 


I  went  by  the  field  of  the  sloth- 
ful, and  hy  the  vineyard  of  the 
jfnian  void  of  understanding  ; 

And,  lo,  it  was  all  grown  over 

wit  h  thorns,  and  nettles  had 

[covered  the  face  thereof,  and  the 

jstone  Wall  thereof   was  broken 

[down.— fVot'.  xxiv  30,  31. 


■.^•v-       <>■:;■ 

»»  r--' 


■~:^i::^"-'::..-'M:^.H^,-,  :.aa  .-:;;.,v>;:.fe-yvfejg;,.i:>;i::S^-^ 


)mmL 


Let  the  field  be  joyful,  and  all  that  is  therein. — 

sa.  xcvi.  12. 

He  that  tilleth  his  land  shall  have  plenty  of 
kead. —Prov.  xxviii.  19. 

He  that  plougheth  should  plough  in  hope. — 
iCor.  ix.  10. 


V 


r 


FELLAH  PLOUGHINO  IN  THE  NEIGHBORHOOD  OF  TELL-ES-SAFJEH .    (See  page  78.) 


Ji 


vn.] 


ASHDOD — MEJDEL. 


85 


ciation,  in  a  maritime  population,  of  the  idea  of  fecundity  with  the 
finny  tribes;  Dagon  being  a  symbol  of  the  reproductive  power  of 
nature,  and  having  been  originally  worshipped  on  the  shores  of  tlie 
Persian  Gulf,  from  which,  through  Chaldsea,  the  Philistines  received 
the  cultus,  apparently  from  the  Phoenicians,  who  came  from  the  Per- 
sian Gulf  by  way  of  Babylonia. 

Ashdod  was  assigned  to  the  tribe  of  Judah,i  but  it  never  came  into 
their  possession,  and  even  so  late  as  the  time  of  Nehemiah  it  was 
ranked  among  the  cities  hostile  to  Israel.^  Ikying  on  the  great  mili- 
tary road  between  Syria  and  Egypt,  it  was  an  important  strategical 
post  from  the  earliest  times,  tlzziah  took  and  kept  it  for  a  short 
time,3  breaking  down  its  walls  to  prevent  its  revolt.  In  the  year  B.  c. 
711,  about  fifty  years  after  Uzziah's  death,*  Sargon  of  Assyria  sent  his 
"tartan,"  or  field -marshal,  against  the  city,  which  was  speedily  taken, 
with  the  miserable  fate  of  having  its  population  led  off' t©  Assyria, 
some  victims  of  war  from  the  East  being  settled  in  their  room ;  the 
town  was  rebuilt  to  receive  them,  and  incorporated  into  the  Assyrian 
Empire  under  an  imperial  governor.  The  king,  Jaman,  had  fled,  with 
his  wife,  his  sons,  and  his  daughters,  to  the  Ethiopian  King^  in  Upper 
Egypt,  but  that  dignitary  handed  him  back  to  tiie  x^ssyriaiis;  the 
words  of  Isaiah  being  terribly  fulfilled,  "They  shall  be  dismayed  and 
ashatned  because  of  Ethiopia,  their  expectation,  and  of  Egypt,  their 
glory,"  ^  or  boast.  Poor  Jaman's  treasures  were  carried  off";  his  palace 
burp'^;d  down ;  he  himself  bound  hand  and  foot  with  iron  chains  and 
sent  to  Assyria.'' 

The  Assyrians  having  strongly  fortified  Ashdod,  its  capture  was  a 
more  difficult  task  for  the  next  invader,  Psammetichus,*  who  besieged 
it,  as  Herodotus*  informs  us,  for  no  less  than  twenty-nine  years,  and 
finally,  on  taking  it,  left  only  "  a  remnant "  of  its  population  in  the 
town.i®  Destroyed  once  more  by  the  Maccabees,  in  the  second  century 
before  Christ,  it  lay  in  ruins  till  restored  by  the  Romans,  two  or  three 
generations  later,^^  and  was  finally  given  to  Herod's  sister,  Salome,  at 
her  brother's  death.^^  j^;  ^^^s  at  Ashdod,  then  called  by  the  Greek 
name  Azotus,  that  Philip  was  found,  after  baptizing  the  Ethiopian 
eunuch — the  only  mention  of  it  in  the  New  Testament.  I  must  not, 
however,  forget  the  striking  episode  of  the  triumphal  entrance  of  the 
saorcd  ark  of  the  Hebrews  to  the  old  Philistine  city,  after  the  battle  of 
Ebenezer.  To  capture  the  gods  of  any  people  was  supposed,  in  anti- 
quity, to  deprive  their  worshippers  of  the  divine  protection  hitherto 
vouchsafed  them,  for  local  gods  were  powerless  outside  their  own  land. 

1  Josh.  XV.  46.  2  Amos  i.  8;  Neb.  iv.  7.  3  2  Chron.  xxvi.  6.  4  B.  o.  75S.  6  Oppert  says 
"Lybia."  Lenormant  fancies  it  was  to  a  petty  prince  in  tlie  Delta  tliat  the  poor  king  fled. 
(Gelkie,  Hours  viOh  the  Bible,  Iv.  396.)  6  Isa.  xx.  5  (R.  V.).  7  Sataon'  AtmtUa,  paiwtm.  8  B.  0.  m-eu 
(BruRsclo.  9  Herod.  11. 157.  V)  Jer.  xxv.  20.  U  B. C 55.  12  Jos.  Ant.,  xlv.  5, 3 :  xvil.  8, 1 :  Bell. 
/tt4.|1.7,7. 


HI 


If! 


86 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


(Chaf. 


But  as  the  Hebrews  had  no  idols,  the  sacred  ark,  which  the^  evidently 
regarded  as  securing  the  presence  of  their  God,  appeared  a  lull  equiva- 
lent. With  this  in  their  hands,  the  Philistines  thought  they  need  fear 
Israel  no  longer ;  they  had  cut  off  the  tource  of  Divine  aid ;  the 
Hebrews  lay  at  their  mercy,  helpless  without  a  God.  Priests  in  their 
vestments,  choirs  in  their  singing  robes,  players  on  instruments,  in  high 
festival  adornment ;  maidens  with  their  timbrels  and  graceful  dance ; 
the  king  and  his  court  in  their  bravest  array,  went  out,  we  may  be 
sure,  through  the  city  gates  to  meet  the  fighting  men  returning  with 
spoil  so  glorious.  The  hill,  now  so  quiet  under  its  mantling  olives, 
must  have  echoed  with  the  shouts  of  the  populace  as  the  ark  was 
borne  up  to  the  great  temple  of  Dagon,  who  nad  shov  -  himself  so 
much  greater  than  Jehovah  by  the  victory  his  people  had  gained, 
through  his  help,  over  the  worshippers  of  the  Hebrew  God.  But  we 
know  the  sequel ;  the  fallen  dishonor  of  the  god  of  Ashdod  on  the 
morrow,  prostrate  on  the  earth  before  the  ark,  as  if  to  do  it  homage; 
the  still  deeper  shame  of  the  following  day;  the  human  head  and  hands 
of  the  upper  half  of  the  idol  cut  off  and  laid  on  the  threshold,  as  if  to 
profane  it,  and  for  ever  bar  entrance;  only  the  ignominious  "fishy- 
part  "  left!  ^  The  cry  arose  to  take  the  ark  to  Gatli  at  the  foot  of  the 
mountains,  on  the  other  side  of  the  plain ;  so  oft'  it  went,  on  a  rude  cart 
which  dragged  it  thither,  across  wadys,  and  round  the  low  hills,  and 
through  wide  corn-lands.  But  Gath  soon  found  cause  to  dread  the 
ominous  trophy.  The  citizens  demanded  that  it  should  be  sent  to 
Ekron,  eleven  miles  to  the  north,  to  let  that  city  try  what  it  could  do 
with  it.  There,  also,  it  was  soon  a  terror.  For  seven  months  it 
wrought  woe  in  the  land.  Once  more  the  cry  arose  to  send  it  oft',  but 
this  time  cows,  instead  of  oxen,  were  yoked  to  the  cart  which  bore  it, 
and  their  calves  kept  at  home,  that  the  will  of  the  Philistine  gods 
respecting  it  might  be  judged  from  the  action  of  the  dumb  creatures 
that  were  to  bear  it  away.  If  the  milky  mothers  turned  back  to  their 
calves,  it  would  be  a  sign  that  the  ark  was  yet  *  stay  in  the  Philis- 
tine r)lain ;  if  they  kept  on  their  w&j  up  into  the  hills  to  the  land  of 
the  Hebrews,  it  would  be  a  proof  that  the  gods  wished  it  to  be  restored 
to  its  own  people.  But  the  kine  went  straight  south  from  Ekron,  low- 
ing for  their  calves  as  they  went,  yet  never  turning  from  their  steady 
advance  along  the  road  to  the  great  Wady  Surar — the  valley  of  Elan, 
the  steep  pass  to  thd  Hebrew  country  in  the  mountains — ^never  stop- 

Eing  till  tney  had  dragged  their  awful  burden  far  up  to  the  rounded 
ill  900  feet  above  the  sea,  on  which  stands  Bethshemesh,  distant  at 
least  fifteen  miles  from  Ekron. 

The  images  of  the  mice  and  emerods  by  which  the  Philistines  had 
been  plagueid,  sent  with  the  ark  by  the  sufferers  as  votiye  offerings, to 
1 1  ttnt.  ▼.  4  (raarglii)* 


He  cuttetii  out  rivers  aDiong  the 
rocks.— Jbft.  xxviii.  10. 

He  turneth  rivers  into  a  wilder- 
ness, and  the  wattr-springs  into  dry 
ground.— Psa.  cvi,.  33. 

Thou  didst  clejik'e  the  earth  with 
rivers. — Hah.  iii.  U. 

ALLUVIAL  DEPOSITS  IN  WADY  FEIRAN. 


(See  page  81.) 


/ 


II 


VIM 


ASHDOD — MAJDEL: 


87 


propitiate  the  Hebrew  God  whom  they  had  offenJed,  are  the  first  of 
the  kind  recorded.  Other  ancient  nations,  however,  were  in  the  liabit 
of  hanging  up  in  the  temples  of  tiieir  gods  small  '•  images"  of  diseased 
parts  of  the  body  which  had  been  healed,  in  answer  to  prayer  as  they 
believed,  and  also  small  models  of  whatever  had  caused  them  danger 
or  suffering,  now  averted  by  the  same  heavenly  aid :  a  practice  still 
observed  in  Greek  and  Koman  Catholic  churches  where  silver  models 
of  eyes,  arms,  or  legs  indicate  cures  supposed  to  have  been  effected  by 
the  intercession  of  particular  saints,  and  smiiU  models  of  ships  show 
deliverance  from  peril  at  sea.^  That  the  Hebrews  hung  up  the  votive 
offerings  of  the  Philistines  in  the  new  Tabernacle  raised  at  Gibeon,  oi' 
Nob,  after  the  destruction  of  the  original  "  Tent  of  Meeting  "  at  Shiloh 
by  the  Philistines,  we  have,  however,  no  proof,  though  gifts  offered  to 
the  Temple  seem  in  later  days  to  have  been  displayed  on  its  walls. 

Passing  a  little  beyond  the  town  to  the  shade  of  a  large  sycamore, 
close  to  the  ruins  of  the  old  khan,  we  were  glad  to  halt  for  mid-day 
refreshment.  There  was  nice  grass  round  the  trunk,  open  tilled 
ground  on  one  side,  and  the  road,  w'th  hedges  of  prickly  pear  ten  feet 
high,  on  the  other.  A  number  of  the  villagers  Sv.on  gathered  round 
us,  entering  into  the  friendliest  conver^jation  with  my  companion,  to 
vv^^om  Arabic  was  familiar.  One  of  them,  taking  off  his  wide  camels'- 
hair  "abba,"  spread  it,  like  a  broad  sheet,  on  the  ground,  as  a  Beat; 
but  we  fortunately  had  shawls  and  coats  of  our  own,  and  thus,  while 
acknowledging  very  sincerely  the  politeness,  were  able  to  escape  a 
possible  danger  not  very  pleasant  to  think  of.  A  little  girl  was  sent 
for  water  by  our  friends,  and  brought  it  in  one  of  the  small  brown 
unglazed  pitchers  of  the  country.  Courtesy  satisfied,  all  withdrew  a 
short  distance  and  sat  down  on  the  ground,  the  usual  resting  place  of 
an  Oriental,  to  look  on  without  rudeness,  and,  no  doubt,  to  talk  about 
us.  Meanwhile  we  were  left  in  peace  to  enjoy  our  lunch — bread, 
oranges,  hard-boiled  eggs,  and  the  remains  of  a  chicken — the  usual 
fare  in  Palestine. 

The  sycamore  under  which  we  sat  in  delightful  shade  was  a  good 
specimen  of  a  tree  very  common  in  Pabstine,  but  only  on  the  lowlands 
of  the  coast,  the  Jordan  valley,  and  lower  Galilee.  The  old  name  of 
Haifa,  indeed,  was  Sykaminon,  in  allusion  to  the  abundance  of  syca- 
mores in  its  neighborhood.     The  tree  grows  also  in  the  neighborhood 

1  In  Herod.  1. 105  there  is  a  story  about  a  disease  inflicted  on  tlie  women  of  Scytliia  for  robbing 
the  temple  of  Derlceto  at  Ascalon,  wonderfully  lilie  the  plague  of  emerods  on  the  Philistines ; 

doubtless  a  distorted  tradition  of  it.    Diod.  Sic. 

bers  of  Osiris  were  liung  up  and  worshipped 


Morgerdand,  iii.  77)  lias  a  very  interesting  article  on  tills  subject. 

wreck  was  hung  in  the  temples  of  Isis  and  Neptune  by  those  saved  from  the  sea. 


Sic.  (i.  221  tells  us  tliat  models  of  the  missing  mem- 
(1  in  the  Egyptian  temples.  BosenmAller  {A.  und  N. 
rticle  on  this  subject.    A  tablet  representing  a  sliip- 


'i^: 


eased  limbs,  <&c.,  are  hung  vp  in  the  temples  of  India  by  pilgrims  who  have  journeyed  to  these 
sanctuaries  to  pray  for  tlie  oure  of  ailments  aftecting  the  parts  thus  represented.  This  has  been 
the  custom  from  the  immemorial  past.  Eyes,  feet,  and  hands,  in  metal,  once  hung  up  in  Grecian 
temples,  have  been  found.  Juvenal  <Sat.,  x.  65)  alludes  to  the  custom  as  familiar  in  Rome.  See 
also  Horat.  Car,,  i.  6, 13—16,  where  the  clothes  of  the  persons  saved  are  hung  up,  as  well  as  a  pic- 
ture of  the  ship. 


88 


THE   HOLY   LAND  AND  THE  BIPLE. 


[Ohaf. 


of  Jerusalem  and  Tekoa,^  and  in  Egypt  it  is  very  common:  a  circum- 
stance which  has  led  to  the  opinion  that  it  must  have  been  introduced 
in  ancient  times  from  tlmt  country  to  the  Holy  Land.  It  grows  from 
forty  to  fifty  feet  high,  with  a  thick  gnarled  stem,  and  numerous 
strong  limbs,  which,  at  a  short  distance  from  the  ground,  strike  out 
horizontally,  instead  of  upwards,  as  with  most  other  treec;  fio  that 
Zaccheus,  at  Jericho,  when  he  wished  to  see  our  Lord,  could  easily 
climb  into  a  vantage-place  on  a  stout  branch.  Nothing,  indeed,  is 
more  common  than  to  find  the  children  of  a  village  amusing  them- 
selves by  getting  up  for  sport  i^to  +he  branches  of  any  sycamore  grow- 
M»g  near.  Its  broad  >wt  >eh  twentv  paces  across,  makes  it  an 
admirable  shad  -t.oe;  many  wnsors  being  able  to  enjoy,  at  the  same 
time,  the  delicious  c  >oi  v  .;  its  branches.  For  this  reason  it  was 
planted,  in  Christ's  day,  alug  m"  '-frequented  roads i^  a  public  con- 
venience to  which  Zaccheus  was  iuueLted  for  the  opportunity  of  which 
he  availed  himself. 

The  fruit  of  the  sycamore  grows  in  clusters  on  the  trunk  and  the 
wood  of  the  great  branches;  not  on  twigs  like  the  ordinary  fig. 
Striped  with  clouded  white  and  green,  and  shaped  like  the  fig,  it  is 
more  woody,  less  sweet,  and  otherwise  less  pleasant  to  the  taste,  nor 
has  it  the  small  seeds  in  its  flesh  which  we  see  in  the  fig.  To  make 
tlie  fruit  agreeable  it  needs  to  be  cut  open,  some  days  before  it  is  ripe, 
that  part  of  the  bitter  juice  may  run  out,  and  tlie  rest  undergo  a 
saccharine  fermentation,  to  sweeten  the  whole.  Only  the  poorest 
make  this  cutting  an  employment,  so  that  when  Amos  speaks  of  it  as 
being  his  calling,  he  wishes  to  indicate  the  lowliness  of  his  social  posi- 
tion.^ The  first  harvest  is  gathered  about  the  beginning  of  June,  and 
from  that  time  till  the  beginning  of  winter  the  tree  continues  to  show 
both  blossoms  and  fruit,  ripe  and  unripe,  so  that  it  is  gathered  repeat- 
edly in  the  same  season. 

The  light,  but  tough  and  almost  imperishable  wood  of  the  sycamore 
caused  it  to  be  largely  used  as  building  material  by  the  Hebrews, 
though  it  was  far  less  prized  than  the  wood  of  the  cedar.  That  it 
must  have  been  very  plentiful  in  ancient  times  is  shown  by  the  fact 
that,  to  prove  the  splendor  of  Solomon's  times,  he  is  recorded  to  have 
made  cedars  as  the  sycamore-trees  of  the  lowlands  for  abundance.*  In 
the  same  way,  the  haughty  people  of  Samaria  boasted  that  though  the 
enemy  had  cut  down  the  sycamores,  they  would  build  with  cedars.* 
Still,  in  the  general  poverty  of  native  timber,  the  sycamore  was  of 
great  value  to  the  Hebrews,  so  that  it  is  natural  to  read  of  David's 
appointing  an  overseer  to  take  charge  of  his  olive  and  sycamore  woods 
in  the  maritime  plain.* 

The  track  south  of  Ashdod  skirts  the  edge  of  the  sand-hills,  but  on 

8  Amos  tU.  14    4  1  Kings  x.  27;  2  Chron.  1. 16;  Ix.  2/, 


1  IKim 


X.  27.     2Lukexvii.  6;xix.  4. 
6  1  Cbron.  xzvil.  28. 


VIM 


ASHDOD — MfiJDEL. 


the  inland  side  the  mountains  of  Judah  rise,  ten  or  twelve  miles  off, 
beyond  a  rolling  country,  half  arable  and  lialf  [>asture.  Asses  laden 
with  bags  of  wool  passed  us  on  the  way  from  Gaza  to  Joppa;  one  or 
two,  also,  with  great  loads  of  a  broom-like  plant,  used  to  make  ropes 
for  water-wheels  or  wells.  The  plough  was  busy  in  all  directions; 
and  where  the  light  soil  invited  flocks  and  herds,  the  slopes  of  the  low 
hills  were  often  enlivened  by  them.  But  they  belonged  to  wandering 
tent  Arabs,  not  to  the  peasantry  round;  for,  just  as  in  Abraham's  day, 
these  sons  of  the  desert  roan)  through  the  land  ,8  they  please,  feeding 
their  flocks  on  the  open  hill-sides.  Our  parting  at  Ashdod  had  been 
quite  a  scene.  Venjrable  greybeards  and  younger  men,  all  with  fine 
figures  and  picturesque  dresa,  came  to  the  road  and  waited  till  the 
horses  were  yoked ;  bidding  us,  at  last,  a  friendly  farewell,  with 
Western  shaking  of  hands. 

As  we  advanced,  the  patches  of  cultivated  land  increased  till  as 
many  as  twenty  ploughs  could  be  seen  going  at  the  same  time,  each 
drawn  by  a  camel  or  by  small,  lean  oxen.  It  reminded  one  of  Elisha, 
'•'who  was  plouobing,  w^'*h  twelve  yoke  of  oxen  before  him,  and  he 
with  the  twelfth,"^  which  menus  that  there  were  twelve  ploughs  at 
work,  the  twelfth  being  guided  by  the  pro|)liet  himself.  Green  hills 
rose  in  succession,  with  herds  of  hundreds  of  cattle  on  them — all,  still, 
the  property  of  Arabs,  whose  black  tents  were  often  to  be  seen  in  the 
distance.  These  nomadic  Ishmaelites  are  in  fact  immensely  rich, 
according  to  Eastern  ideas;  their  Avealth,  like  that  of  the  patriarchs, 
whom  they  much  resemble  in  their  mode  of  life,  consisting  of  flocks 
and  herds.  The  plain  was  seamed,  from  time  to  time,  with  the  dry 
stony  beds  of  winter  torrents,  in  which  no  water  ever  flows  except  after 
rains.  The  town  of  Ilaniaweh,  surrounded  by  a  wide  border  of  gar- 
dens, soon  canie  in  sight;  the  white  blossom  of  almond-trees  rising 
like  a  snowy  cloud  above  the  cactus  hedges,  which  stretched  onwards 
till  they  joined  those  of  the  larger  town,  El-Mejdel. 

The  latter  place  is  the  capital  of  the  district  in  which  it  stands,  and 
boasts  a  population  of  1,500  inhabitants.  A  small  mosque  with  a  tall 
minaret  is  its  only  prominent  public  building,  and  the  houses  are 
nearly  all  built  of  mad,  like  those  of  the  other  towns  of  the  plain;  a 
very  few  of  stone  being  the  exception.  Deep  wells,  some  of  them 
witli  the  water  120  feet  below  the  surface,  provide  the  means  of  irri- 
gating the  gardens.  Camels  or  oxen  raise  the  fertilizing  stream  by 
"  Persian  wheels,"  or  sakiyehs,  like  those  in  other  places;  the  various 
heads  of  families  providing  the  animals  in  turn,  as  the  wells  are  public 
property.  A  large  rain-pond  lies  to  the  east  of  the  village,  and  a  far- 
stretching  cemetery  on  the  west;  for  death  is  as  busy  in  one  place  as 
in  another.    There  is  a  great  market  held  m  Mejdel  every  Friday — 

1  1  Kings  xlx.  19. 


90 


THE   HOT<Y   LAND  AND  THE   BtBLE. 


tCHA». 


the  Mahomraedan  Sunday — attracting  buyers  and  sellers  fVom  all  parts 
of  the  plain. 

The  olive  plantations  on  all  sides  of  the  town  were  very  fine.  Ijook- 
ing  old,  however  young,  so  broken  and  gnarled  is  their  bark,  so 
twisted  their  short  stems;  often  hollow;  often  as  if  covered  only  with 
a  lace-work  of  bark  ;  the  ligiit  greyish-green  of  their  small  pointed 
leaves  so  faded,  with  tlieir  white  under-sides  showing  in  every  breath 
of  wind — they  are  like  no  other  tree  that  I  know.  Olive-growing  is 
largely  followed  in  the  soutiiern  parts  of  the  plain.  From  Mejdel 
onwards,  the  tree  covers  tiie  slopes  of  the  low  liills  and  the  rich  plains, 
making  them  one  vast  orciiard,  for  they  are  not  higher  than  fruit-trees, 
and  are  mostly  narrower  in  tlieir  round  of  foliage  than  ordinary  fruit- 
trees  with  us.  Casting  less  shade  than  our  apple  or  pear-trees,  and 
standing  wider  apart,  the  wide  groves  of  them,  with  the  soft  green 
underneath,  made  the  whole  landscape  at  times  look  as  lovely  and  rich 
as  an  Kn,<>1ish  park.  If  llosea  had  in  his  thoughts  such  a  scene  as  this 
swutli  ol'  Mejdel  he  might  well  say  of  Israel,  when  restored  to  Divine 
favor,  that  its  "beauty  would  be  as  the  olive-tree,"^  jast  as  Jeremiah, 
at  a  later  date,  was  to  compare  its  early  glory  with  that  of  a  green 
olive-tree,  fair  and  of  goodly  fruit.^  Nor  could  David  more  vividly 
picture  his  future  prosperity  when  delivered  from  his  enemies,  accord- 
ing to  Hebrew  ideas,  than  by  the  thought  that  ho  would  be  like  one  of 
the  green  olive-trees  which  grew  in  the  open  court  before  the  House 
of  God — the  Tabernacle  he  had  raised  in  Jerusalem.^ 

The  olive  was  cultivated  in  Palestine  long  before  the  Hebrew  inva- 
sion, for  "olive-trees  which  thou  plantedst  not"*  are  enumerated 
among  the  good  things  on  which  they  entered,  and  it  must  have  been 
widely  cultivated  throughout  Bible  times,  from  the  frequent  illusions 
to  it.  It  is,  in  fact,  and  must  always  have  been,  in  Palestine,  as  char- 
acteristic a  feature  of  the  landscape  as  the  date-palm  is  in  Egypt.  On 
the  long  stretches  of  bare,  stony  hill-sides  the  olive  is  often  the  only 
tree  that  enlivens  the  monotony  of  desolation.  Moses  and  Job  hardly 
used  a  figure  when  they  spoke  of  "oil  out  of  the  lUnty  rock,"  **  for 
olives  flouri.sh  best  on  sandy  or  stony  soil,  and  it  is  because  the  Philis- 
tine plain  consists  so  largely  of  consolidated  sand  that  they  grow  on  it 
so  luxuriantly.  In  ancient  times  the  country  must  have  been  dotted 
everywhere  with  olive-groves.  "Thou  shalt  have  olive-trees,"  says 
Moses,  "throughout  all  thy  coasts."^  Asher,  on  its  hills,  behind- 
Tyre,  and  soutl.wards  to  Kartha,  on  the  coast,  below  Acre,  was  to 
"dip  his  foot  in  oil,"  as  it  overflowed  from  the  presses.'^  Joel  prom- 
ised that,  if  the  people  turned  to  their  God,  "  the  fats  should  overflow 
with  oil."®  The  olive  harvest  was,  ?n  fact,  as  important  to  the 
Hebrew  peasant  as  that  of  the  vine  or  of  com;  the  three  being  often 

IHos.  xlv.6.    2Jer.  xl.  16.    3  Ps.  Hi.  8.    4Deut.Ti.ll.   5  I>eut.xxxii.  18;  JobxxUle.    6  Deut. 
XXVlil.  40.    7  Deut.  xxili.  24.    8  Joel  11. 24. 


tCBA». 

il  purU 

Ijook- 
^rk,  8o 
ly  witli 
pointed 

breuth 
iwing  i« 

Mejdel 
1  plains, 
lit-trees, 
ry  fruit- 
eea,  and 
)ft  greon 
and  rich 
\e  n8  tins 
o  Divine 
ereniiah, 
'  a  green 
B  vividly 
},  accord- 
ke  one  of 
[le  House 

rew  inva- 
umeratcd 
lave  been 
allusions 
,  as  char- 
y])t.     On 
1  the  only 
ob  hardly 
ck,"  ^  for 
le  Philis- 
Tow  on  it 
len  dotted 
jes,"  says 
,  behind 
re,  was  to 
oel  prom- 
overflow 
nt  to  the 
eing  often 

\x,6.   6  Deut. 


rii.i 


ASHDOI) — MEJDKL. 


91 


mentioned  together  as  the  staples  of  the  national  prosperity.^  It  was 
even  so  important  an  element  in  tlie  royal  revenue  that  David  had 
officers  over  his  stores  of  oil  and  his  olive-woods.  More  indeed  was 
raised  than  could  be  used  for  home  consumption,  whetlier  for  cooking, 
light,  worship,  or  for  anointing  the  person,  and  hence  it  was  largely 
exported  to  Egypt  and  Phcenioia.^  "  Judali  and  the  land  of  Israel," 
says  K/ekicl,  "  traded  in  thy  markets  " — those  of  Tyre — wheat  from 
the  Hauriin,  spices  or  millet,^  and  honey,  and  oil,  and  the  resin  of  the 
pistachio-tree.^ 

The  olive  is  propagated  from  shoots  or  cuttings,  which,  aftei  they 
have  taken  root,  are  grafted,  since  otiicrwise  they  would  grow  up 
"  wild  olives,"  and  bear  inferior  fruit.  Sometimes,  however,  a  **  good 
olive  from  some  cause  ceases  to  bear,  and  in  this  case  a  shoot  of  wild 
olive — that  is,  one  of  the  shoots  from  those  which  spring  up  round  the 
trunk — is  grafted  into  the  barren  tree,  with  the  result  tiiat  the  sap  of 
the  good  olive  turns  this  wild  shoot  into  a  good  branch,  bearing  truit 
suyl  as  the  parent  stem  should  have  borne.  It  is  to  this  practice  that 
St.  Paul  alludes  when  he  says  of  the  Gentiles,  "  If  some  of  the  branches 
were  broken  off,  and  thou,  being  a  wild  olive,  wast  grafted  in  among 
them,  and  didst  become  partaker  with  them  of  the  root  and  of  the  fat- 
ness of  the  olive-tree;  "*  and,  furth^,  "If  thou  wast  cut  out  of  the 
olive-tree  that  is  wild  by  nature,  and  wast  grafted,  contrary  to  nature, 
into  a  good  olive-tree."  He  refers  to  the  barrenness  of  the  Jewish 
Church  as  the  olive  of  Ciod's  own  choice,  and  the  grafting  on  it  of  the 
Oentiles,  hitherto  a  wild  olive,  but,  now,  through  this  grafting  made  to 
yield  fruit,  though  only  from  the  root  and  sap  of  the  old  noble  stem. 
By  the  "olive-tree  wild  by  nature  "  can  only  be  meant  the  shoots  that 
spring  up  wild  and  worthless  from  the  root.  There  is  no  wild  olive 
apart  from  these. 

The  tree  has  a  long  life.  For  ten  years  it  bears  no  fruit,  and  it  is 
not  till  its  fortieth  year  that  it  renohes  its  highest  productiveness.  In 
spring  the  blossoms  shoot  out  it.  clusters  among  the  leaves,  but  the 
harvest  does  not  come  till  October,  when  the  dark-green,  oval  berries, 
somewhat  larger  than  a  cherry,  are  ready  for  gathering.  This  is  done 
by  women  and  boys,  who  clinib  into  the  trees  and  shake  them,  or  stand 
beneath  and  beat  the  branches  with  a  long  pole,  but  there  are  al./ays 
a  few  le''  in  the  topmost  branches,  and  these  are  the  perquisite  of 
gleaners.  It  seems  as  if  we  still  lived,  in  this  respect,  in  the  days  of 
Moses  and  tlie  prophets.  "When  thou  beatest  thine  olive-tree,"  says 
Moses,*  "thou  shaft  not  go  over  the  boughs  again  ;  it  shall  be  for  the 

1  Deut.  xxylll.  40;  yll.  13;  xl.  14:  xil.  17;  Joel  1. 10;  II.  19,  24;  1  Chron.  xxvll.  ^;  >  OHroi«  xxxM. 
M.  2  Ho.4.  XM  1 ;  1  Kings  v.  12:  Ezra  111.  7;  Ezek.  xxvll.  17.  '•  Minnlth "  wus  In  the  HaurAn.  3 
•'PaiinaR"  Is  thus  varloufi.j  understood.  4  Rlehm.  This  resin  was  used  largely  as  a  salve  f»»i 
woundit,  while  oil  f-,.jD  t>e  leaves,  bark,  and  black  berries  of  the  tree,  wan  i  no*.ed  inedlciiie  'i>i 
both  external  and  Ir  ;*rnal  use.  6  Rom.  xl.  17  (R.  V.).  Art.  "Oelbaum,"  H  -i  voa,  2te  Auf.,  x.  7;?5 
mt>taa,  Btt>a  Lex.  «  Deut.  xxlv.  20. 


Ml 


92 


THE   HOLY  LAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


[Chap. 


hiranger,  the  fatherless,  and  the  widow."  "  Gleaning  grapes  shall  be 
in  it,"  says  Isaiah,^  "as  the  shaking  of  an  olive-tree:  two  or  tiiree 
berries  in  the  top  of  the  uppermost  bough,  four  or  five  in  the  outer — 
most  fruitful — branches  thereof."  The  poor  olive-gleaner  may  still  be 
seen  every  year  gathering  what  he  can  after  the  trees  have  been  strip- 
ped by  their  owners. 

This  harvest-time  is  one  of  general  gladness,  as  may  well  be  sup- 
posed. Some  berries  fall,  by  the  wind  or  from  other  causes,  before  tlie 
•icneial  crop  is  ripe,  but  they  must  lie  there,  guarded  by  watchmen, 
till  a  proclamation  is  made  by  the  governor  that  all  the  trees  are  to  be 
picked.  This  is  to  allow  the  tax-gatherer  to  be  on  the  spot  to  demand 
his  toll ;  for  the  Turk  foolishly  taxes  each  tree,  thus  discouraging  as 
much  as  possible  the  increase  of  plantations.  The  gleanings  left,  after 
all  efforts,  are  a  boon  to  the  very  poor,  who  manage  to  gather  enough 
to  keep  tlieir  lamp  alight  through  the  winter  and  to  cook  their  simple 
fare. 

The  shoots  springing  up  from  the  root  of  each  tree  long  ago  fur- 
nished a  pleasant  simile  to  the  Psalmist.  "  Thy  children,"  says  he, 
"shall  be  like  olive  plants  round  thy  table; "^  that  is,  they  will  clus- 
ter round  it  as  these  suckers  oiing  round  the  root  from  which  they 
spring. 

It  is  a  striking  illustration  of  the  smallness  of  the  population  in 
Pal(  stine  that  thousands  of  olive-trees  are  left  uncared  for,  to  be  swal- 
lowed up  by  an  undergrowth  of  thorns  and  weeds.  The  tax  on  each 
tree  is,  no  doubt,  in  part  the  cause  of  this  state  of  things.  Fear  of  its 
being  increased  paralyses  industry. 

In  ancient  times  the  gathered  olives  were  either  pressed,  or  trodden 
by  the  feet,  in  an  olive-vat.*  The  finest  oil,  however,  was  that  which 
flowed  from  the  berries  when  they  were  merely  beaten,  not  from  those 
that  were  pressed,  and  hence  it  was  expressly  required  for  religious 
services.*  It  is  also  the  "fresh  oil"  of  which  David  speaks,^  An 
oil-vat  at  the  foot  of  the  Mount  of  Olives  gave  its  name  to  the  garden 
of  Gethsemane.  Remains  of  such  vats,  hewn  in  the  rocks,  are  found 
in  places  where  there  is  now  no  longer  any  trace  of  the  olive — as,  for 
instance,  ii  the  country  south  of  Hebron;  so  that  the  tree  formerly 
grew  over  a  wider  region  than  at  present.  Along  with  the  vats  in 
which  the  berries  were  trodden,  presses  and  even  mills  were  used  after 
a  time,  the  oil  being  so  imperfectly  separated  by  the  feet  that  that 
custom  is  now  quite  discontinued. 

Without  cultivation  the  olive  soon  ceases  to  yield.  Hence  the  soil 
underneath  it  is  ploughed  each  spring,  or  oftener,  so  as  i>o  admit  the 
air  to  the  roots,  and  no  crop  is  sown,  as  under  other  fruit-trees.  The 
earth,  moreover,  is  drawn  round  the  tree  to  keep  it  moist;  but  neither 


1  Isa.  XTll.  A ;  xxiT.  13.    2  Ps.  cxxviii.  3. 
6  Ps.  xqU.  10. 


8  Mic.  Ti.  15.     4  Kx.  xzvii.  20;  xxlz.  40;  Lev.  xxiv.  2. 


For  Gaza  shall  be  forsaken,  and  Ashkelon 
a  desolation  :  they  shall  drive  out  Ashdod  at 
the  noonday,  and  Ekron  shall  be  rooted  up. 
.  .  .  ,  O  Canaan,  the  land  of  the  Philis- 
tines, I.  will  even  destroy  thee,  that  there 
shall  be  no  inhabitant. 

And  the  sea  coast  shall  be  dwellings  and 
cottages  for  shepherds,  and  folds  for  flocks. 
And  the  coast  shall  be  for  the  remnant  of 
the  house  of  Judab  ;  they  shall  feed  there- 
upon :  in  the  house  f  Ashkelon  shall  they 
lie  down  in  the  eveuing :  for  the  Lord  their 
God  shall  visit  them,  and  turn  away  their 
captivity. — Zeph.  ii.  4-7. 


BL-MEJDBL,  ON  THE  ROAD  FROM  ASHKELON  TO  JERUSALBIL   09ee  page>  80.) 


r 


VII.1 


ASHDOD — MEJDEL. 


9S 


manuring  nor  pruning  is  practised  A  full  crop  is  gathered  only  each 
second  year,  from  what  cause  I  do  not  know.  One  strange  fact  in 
connection  with  this  was  told  me.  We  are  accustomed  to  regard 
locusts  as  only  a  curse,  but  it  is  said  that  they  often  prove  the  reverse, 
since  their  greedy  jaws  virtually  prune  the  trees,  and  thus  double.the 
harvest  of  the  next  year. 

The  mills  used  in  obtaining  the  oil  are  of  two  kinds;  tl)e  one, 
worked  by  hand,  consisting  simply  of  a  heavy  stone  wheel,  which  is 
rolled  over  the  berries  thrown  into  a  stone  basin.  When  crushed,  they 
are  taken  out  as  pulp,  and  put  into  straw  baskets,  which  are  then 
placed  in  a  screw-press  and  squeezed.  The  oil  thus  obtained  is  of 
excellent  quality,  though  inferior  to  the  "beaten;"  but  a  third  quality 
is  obtained  by  subjecting  the  already  pressed  pulp  to  a  second  squeez- 
ing. The  other  mill  is  a  hollow  cylinder,  with  iron  rods  projv^cting  at 
its  lower  end.  It  stands  upright,  and  turns  on  a  round  framework  of 
stone,  the  iron  rods  beating  the  olives  to  pulp  as  they  are  thrown  in. 
After  this  maceration  they  are  put  under  a  beam  heavily  weighted  at 
the  end,  and  thus,  one  would  think,  the  last  possible  yield  of  oil  is 
obtained.  But  there  is  still  a  little  left,  and  a  second  pressing,  after 
the  already  sorely  squeezed  pulp  has  been  heated,  secures  this  final 
portion. 

Beyond  Mejdel  the  country  was  beautiful.  Olive-groves  and  soltly- 
ureen  fields  of  barley  varied  the  light-brown  of  the  ploughed  land,  or 
the  roughness  of  tracts  which  there  was  no  one  to  till.  Over  these 
tracts,  tufts  of  large  lily-like  plants  grew  in  great  abundance;  great 
numbers  of  the  bulbs,  mostly  squills,  lying  at  the  roadside,  wliere  the 
light  ploughs  had  torn  them  out  of  the  ))atche.»  of  soil  taken  for  culti- 
vation. Bands  of  white  limestone  cropped  up  here  and  there,  as  the 
road  climbed  the  low  swells;  larks  sang  iu  the  air,  or  perched  on  Fome 
clod,  or  ran  ahead  of  us  on  the  track,  be(ore  taking  wing — I'or  there 
are  fifteen  species  of  lark  in  Palestine;  a  string  of  camels  kept  us  in 
mind  of  the  East,  as  they  stalked  on,  ladened  with  huge  boxes  of 
"hundel,"  a  kind  of  root  used  for  mysterious  combinations  by  the 
drug  merchants.  A  low  cemented  whitewashed  structure,  like  a  min- 
iature saint's  tomb,  with  an  opening  breast-high  on  one  side,  stood 
by  the  road — a  drinking  fountain,  filled  daily  by  the  kindness  of  women 
passing  with  their  water-jars,  to  supply  the  way-larer  with  a  cup  of 
cold  water,  than  which  no  gift  is  more  precious  in  this  dry  juid  thirsty 
land.  Kindness  of  heart,  thank  God,  is  limited  to  no  race  or  ctmntrv. 
'i'he  experience  of  Canon  Tristram,  in  one  instance,  is  that  of  every 
traveller  in  any  hot  climate.  Thirsting  exceedingly,  he  asked  a  drink 
from  a  young  Arab  girl  who  had  her  tall  water-jar  on  her  shoulder, 
having  just  filled  it.  In  a  moment  it  was  set  down  for  the  freest  use. 
A  small  present  for  her  courtesy  seemed  natural,  but  she  would  not 


94 


THE   HOLY  LAND  AND  THE  BIBLii. 


[GH4P. 


take  it.  Tears  filled  her  eyes;  she  would  have  no  bakshish;  she  gave 
tlie  water  freely,  for  the  sake  of  her  mother,  lately  dead,  and  for  charity 
and  the  love  of  God  1  So  saying,  she  kissed  the  hands  of  tlie  party, 
and  tliey  passed  on — anyone  can  imagine  with  what  thoughts.  So, 
doubtless,  it  sometimes  happened  with  our  blessed  Lord  ind  His  band 
of  disciples,  as  they  journeyed  over  the  hot,  white  hills  of  Galilee  or 
Judsea;  the  giver  who  put  her  water-jar  at  their  service  lor  the  Ipve  of 
the  Master,  in  nowise  losing  her  reward.^  Everywhere,  the  country 
outside  the  town  gardens  lay  unfenced ;  here,  in  wild  scanty  pasture;  at 
another  part,  broken  up  into  patches  of  ploughed  land,  or  green  with 
spring  crops.  What  seemed  mole-hills  were  to  be  seen  every- 
where, but  it  appears  that  they  were  the  mounds  of  a  kind  of 
mole-rat,  not  of  the  true  mole,  which  is  not  found  in  Palestine;  the 
mole-rat  taking  its  place,^  This  is  the  creature  called  a  weasel  in  the 
English  Bible.^  Unlike  our  mole,  it  delights  in  the  r  '"'^  scattered 
so  widely  over  the  Jand;  the  cavities  in  them,  doubtless,  supplying 
ready-made  spots  for  its  nest.  It  is  twice  the  size  of  our  mole,  with 
no  external  eyes,  and  with  only  faint  traces,  within,  of  the  rudimentary 
organ ;  no  apparsnt  ears,  but,  like  the  mole,  with  great  internal  organs 
of  hearing;  a  strong  bare  snout,  and  large  gnawing  teeth;  its  color,  a 
pule  slate;  its  feet,  short,  aiul  provi«;ied  with  strong  nails;  its  tail,  only 
rudimentary.  Isaiah,  in  his  prophecy  of  the  idols  being  thrown  to 
the  moles  and  to  the  bats,*  uses  a  different  word,  but  its  meaning, 
"thrower  up  of  the  soil,"  fixes  i<u  application.  It  is  a  curious  illus- 
tration of  the  poverty  of  the  Hebrew  language,  and  tlic  consequent 
difficulty  of  quite  accurate  translation,  that  a  word  rendered  once  in 
our  version,  "the  mole,''^  is  reiidere<l  "swan"  in  the  two  other  cases 
in  which  it  is  used,^  the  context  Ibrming  the  only  clue  to  its  meaning, 
which,  m  these  two  cases,  seems  to  point  to  its  being  some  bird.  Nor 
do  scholars  help  one  very  much,  i\)f  they  render  it,  variously,  pelican, 
horned  owl,  water-hen,  or  sea-swallow. 

Still  ither  villages! — Nalia  and  Burly^rah,  embowered  in  orchards 
and  olive-grounds,  which  stretch  unbroken  for  four  miles  south  of 
Mejdel;  those  of  Nalia  half-way  across  the  sand-dunes,  which  must 
have  been  kept  l)ack  from  thern  by  infinite  labor.  West  of  the  Nalia 
orchards  and  groves  these  sand-dunes  stretch  little  more  than  a  mile 
inland;  immediately  south  o^'  the  town  they  run  three  miles  into  the 
land;  the  gardens  jutting  out  into  them  as  a  verdant  peninsula.  At 
Burberah,  a  mile  to  the  mmt'n,  they  c«>ver  a  breadth  of  tree  miles.  On 
the  east  of  the  village,  green  barley-fields  stretched  away  as  far  as  the 
eye  could  reach,  hemming  round  a  sea  of  gardens  hedged  with  the 
prickly  pear,  and  bea-itiful  with  the  grf^y  and  /reen  of  oMve-trees,  figs, 

i  'yiau  X.  4.;.  Mark  ix.  41.    2  riistram,  Landqf  ItrmU,  o.  186^.  3  Uev.  xl.»,    4  Isa.  ii.20,    6  Lev, 
4i.  80.    6  Va'V.  x-:.  18;  rnut,  xiv  ^6, 


Vll.] 


AHHDOl) — MEjUEL. 


95 


])()rne;iraimtes,  nnd  alinoiids;  the  last  in  all  the  glory  of  their  white 
blossom.  Vineyards,  also  lenced,  varied  the  bounteous  prospect,  and 
olive-trees,  in  open  groves,  clothed  the  slopes,  almost  in  thousands. 
Verv  different  would  be  the  laiidncape  a  few  months  later.  The  olive- 
proves  would  then  be  dull  with  dust,  the  mulberry-leaves  gone — as 
food  for  sheep,  no  silkworms  being  cultivated  in  this  part — the  soil 
parched  and  dry,  il  «•  very  stubble  withered  to  tinder;  the  sky  brass, 
the  earth  iron;    trees  and  villages  seeming  to  quiver  in  the  hot  air. 

Harvest  is  over  on  the  plains  before  it  begins  in  the  mountains,  so 
that  the  peasants  of  Philistia  go  oft"  to  gather  the  crops  of  the  high- 
lands after  their  own  are  secured.  The  sickle  is  still  in  use  for  reap- 
ing, as  it  was  in  Bible  times;  the  reaper  gathering  the  grain  into  his 
left  arm  as  he  outs  it.^  Following  him  conies  the  binder,  who  makes 
up  into  large  bundles — not  as  with  us  into  sheaves — the  little  heaps  of 
the  reaper.2  During  his  toil,  the  peasant  refi-eslies  himself  with  a  poor 
meal  of  roasted  wheat,  and  pieces  of  bread  dipped  in  vinegar  and 
water,3  jyg^  ^s  they  did  of  old.  IM.  j  bundles  of  cut  grain  are  carried 
on  asses  or  sometimes  on  camels'*  to  the  open-air  threshing-floor,  near 
the  village ;  one  of  the  huge  bundles,  njarly  as  large  as  the  camel 
itself,  being  hung  on  each  side  of  the  patient  beast,  in  a  rough  netting 
of  rope,  as  he  kneels  to  receive  them.  Rising  and  bearing  them  oft', 
he  once  more  kneels  at  the  threshing-floor,  to  have  them  removed, 
returning  forthwith  to  tlie  reapers  to  repeax  tlie  same  round.  The  har- 
vest in  Palestine  la'-if  lor  weeks;  one  kind  of  g-^ain  ripening  before 
another,  and  different  evels  having  a  different  time  for  reaping.  In 
the  plain  of  Philistia  >  begins  in  April  and  ends  in  June,  but  on  the 
deep-sunk  and  hot  plrins  of  the  Jordan  the  bailey  harvest  begins  at 
the  end  of  March,  and  .hat  of  wheat  two  or  three  weeks  later.  In  the 
mountains  it  is  later,  as  I  have  said,  than  on  the  sea-coast.  Garden 
fruits  and  grapes  ripen  oefore  the  autumn,  but  maiz(\  melons,  olives,  and 
dates  not  till  autumn  has  commenced.  It  wa;-  he  same  in  ancient 
times.  The  harvest  began  legally  on  the  secoin^  ly  of  the  Passover 
week,  the  16th  of  Nisan,  the  month  when  the  ini  came  to  the  ear, 
which  corresponded  to  our  April.  Fiom  that  '  le  harvest  continued 
for  seven  weeks,  till  the  feast  of  Pentecost.^  Barley  came  first,  then 
wheat,®  which  is  all  reaped  in  the  Jordan  valle  m  ordinary  years,  by 
the  middle  of  May. 

The  threshing-floor  is  always  chosen  on  a>  x posed  and  high  a  spot 
as  can  be  had,  to  catch  the  wind  for  winnowing;  flat  spaces  on  hill-tops 
being  selected  in  some  cases,  as  in  that  of  Araunah  thei  Jebusite.'  The 
ground  is  prepared  by  being  beaten  and  trampled  smooth  and  hard. 

1  Ps.  cxxix.  7;  Isa.  xvll.  6.  2  Jer.  Ix.  22;  Ps.  cxxlx.  7;  Gen.  xxxvil.  7.  3  1  Sam.  xvll  17;  Kuth 
11.14.  4  Carts  were  also  used  anciently.  (Amos  II.  13.)  5Ex.xxiii.l(;:Lev.  xxiii.  10;Deut.xvi.9;  Jos. 
Ata^  Hi.  10,  6.,  6  Ruth  I.  22;  ii.  23;  2  Sam.  xxl.  9:  Gen.  xxx.  U;  Judg.  xv.  1;  1  Sapi.  vi.  13;  xii,  17. 
7  i  $ain.  xxi\.  18,  p         » 


96 


THK    IlOliV    I-ANl»    AND    I'llK    HllJLK. 


[CHAP. 


Heaps  of  oruiii  laid  in  circles,  with  tlie  lieads  inwards,  are  piled  on  tlie 
tliresliing-tloor,  which  is  guarded  during  the  night  by  a  watchman  in  a 
slight  watch-hut  on  the  floor,  if,  .is  in  the  instance  of  Boaz,  tlie  owner 
himself  does  not  sleep  on  the  sheaves.^  Like  Ruth,  the  poor  gleaner 
is  content  to  beat  out  her  few  armfuls  with  a  stick.^  But  though  need 
of  secrecy  forced  Gideon  to  use  the  flail  in  the  hollow  of  the  wine- 
press,'^ it  is  no  longer  in  general  use  in  Palestine;  only  legumes  like 
fitches,  or  herbs  like  cummin,  being  now  beaten,  as  indeed  was  the  gen- 
eral case  in  the  days  of  Isaiah* 

Where  there  are  no  threshing-sledges,  oxen  are  still  employed  to 
tread  out  the  grain,  over  which  they  walk,  round  and  round,  as  it  lies 
in  huge  mounds  on  the  floor,  just  as  1  have  seen  horses  driven  round  on 
it  in  Southern  Russia.  The  kindly  requirement  of  the  old  Mosaic  law, 
"Tliou  shalt  not  muzzle  the  ox  when  he  treadeth  out  the  corn,''^  has 
hai)pily  outlived  the  changes  of  race  in  the  land,  and  is  still  nearly 
always  observed,  though  here  and  there  a  })easant  is  found  who  ties  n\) 
the  mouth  of  the  poor  creatures  that  tread  out  his  grain.  Usually, 
however,  threshing-sledges  are  em])l()yed  to  separate  the  corn  from  the 
straw.  The  commonest  of  these  is  a  solid  wooden  sledge,  consisting 
only  of  a  set  of  thick  boards,  bolted  together  by  cross-bands,  and  bent 
u})  at  the  front,  to  let  it  pass  easily  over  the  straw.  In  the  bottom  of 
the  planks  are  fixed  numerous  rows  of  sharp  stones,  to  facilitate  the 
threshing,  and  also  to  cut  up  the  straw  into  the  "teben"  used  for  fod- 
der. Oxen  yoked  to  this  are  driven  round  over  the  heaps  of  grain  and 
straw;  a  man,  with  a  large  wooden  fork,  turning  over  the  heap  as  the 
sledge  passes,  till  the  grain  is  entirely  separated  and  the  straw  su(R- 
ciently  broken  into  small  pieces.  The  "teben,"  with  wl:ich  a  great 
deal  of  grain  is  necessarily  mixed,  is  then  thiown  into  the  cemre  of 
t'.  ■  floor,  where  it  graduall}^  rises  to  a  huge  mound.  The  ehatf  anil 
the  grain  are  next  swept  into  a  sejiarate  heap,  to  be  winnowed  when 
ail  the  harvest  is  threshed.  To  make  the  sledge  heavier,  the  driver 
usually  stands  on  it,  or,  as  the  time  is  one  of  general  enjoyment,  one 
may  see  it  covered  with  laughing  children,  enjoying  the  slow  ride 
round  and  round.  It  was  such  "threshing  instruments"  that  Araunah 
presented  to  David,  along  wi^^h  the  oxen  and  the  implements  of  the 
threshing-floor,  that  lie  might  Inive  at  once  a  sacrifice  and  the  wood  to 
consume  it.^  The  word  in  Hebrew  is  "morag,"  and  it  is  still  retained 
in  the  form  of  "mowrej,"  or,  in  some  ])arts  of  the  country,  "norag,"  so 
that  there  is  no  doubt  as  to  the  "instrument"  Araunah  was  using. 
When  Isaiah  paints  Israel  cm  its  return  from  captivity  as  "a  new  sharp 
morag  having  teeth,"  he  reCers  to  the  same  thresiiing-sledge  as  is  used 
to-day,  ajid  it  is  to  this  that  Job  compares  Leviathan  when  he  says 
that  "his  underj)iirts  are  like  sharp  potsherds;  hespreadeth,  as  it  were, 

1  Ituth  Hi.  7.    2  Ruth  ii.  17.    3  Judg.  vi.  Ix.    4  L**a.  xxviil.  27.    5  Deut.  xxv.  4.    6  2  Sara.  xxlv.  22. 


^      Threshing  Sledge  on  a  Threshing  Floor  In  the  Nile  Delta,    (See  page  96.) 


N 


VII.J 


ASH1X)1>— MKJDKL. 


97 


!\   threshing- wain  ui)oii   the  n\ire."*      A   nu>iv  oon\pl:  >nted  form  of 
lliroshing-niaohine,  known  as  a  ihiushiug-Wrtgon^isuset.  in  some  places, 
consisting  of  a  frame  like  tluit  of  a  l\anx>\v,  witli  thn^e  i-evolving  axles 
st^t  in  it  like  so  many  wheels,  proviilod  with  prt\jeoting  iron  teeth ;  a  chair 
being  fixed  over  them  for  the  driver,  who  is  pixjteeteil  by  their  being 
covered  with  a  wooden  case  on  the  side  next  him.     Snch  a  wheeled 
tlmxshing-sledge  was  already  in  nse  in  the  days  of  Isaiah,  and  even 
drawn  by  horses,  for  the  prophet  tells  us  that  "fltehes  are  not  threshed 
with  a  sharp  morag;  neither  is  the  wheel  of  u  tit\*<hing- wagon  rolled 
over  the  cummin.     Bi\)ad-eorn  is  thivshed  out,  but  yet  one  does  not 
keep  on  threshing  it  for  ever,  nor  does  he  erush  it  [tlie  kernel]  small 
with  the  wheel  of  his  threshing- wagon  or  with  liis  horses"  [which 
drag  the  wagon].^    In  Proverbs  we  aw  t\irther  told  that  "a  wise  king 
winnoweth  away  the  wicked,  and  bringeth  the  threshing-wheel  over 
him,"  an  allusion  to  the  dreadful  custom  of  eoiidemning  prisoners  of 
war,  when  especially  hated,  to  be  cut  into  small  pieces  by  driving  over 
tliem  a  threshing- wagon,  or  threshing-sledge,  with  its  rows  of  iron 
spikes  or  sharp  stones,  till  their  flesh  was  torn  oft'  in  niorsels.     This 
was  apparently  the  hideous  fate  assigned  by  David  to  some  of  the 
ATninonite  prisoners  taken  after  the  eaptmx>  of  Kabbah,'^  and,  indeed, 
seems  to  have  been  usual  in  war  in  those  ages,  for  the  Syrians  boasted 
that  they  had  destroyed  Israel  till  they  wetv  like  the  dust  caused  by 
threshing — into  pieces  so  small  had  they  out  the  prisoners  who  suft'ered 
their  fury.     Syria  indeed  a})}>ear8  to  have  lx»on  specially  given  to  this 
dreadful  savagery,  for  Amos  tells  us  that  Damascus — that  is,  the  King 
of  Syria — would  suffer  the  fierce  vtmge«ne»>  of  Jehovah  for  having 
'•threshed  the  people  of  Gilead  with  the  sharp  iron  teeth  of  threshing- 
wagons."*      Thank  God,  infamous  though  war  is  still,  it  does  not  stoop 
to  this! 

To  winnow  the  grain  is  severe  work,  and  as  such,  is  left  to  the  men. 
It  is  mostly  done,  just  as  in  the  days  of  Huth,  in  the  evening  and  dur- 
ing the  night,  when  the  night-wind  was  \>lowing.'^  The  cool  breeze 
which  in  the  summer  months  comes  from  the  vseu  in  a  gentle  air  in  the 
morning,  grows  stronger  towards  s^^iset,  and  blows  till  about  ten 
o'clock,  causing  the  "cool  of  the  day,'  or,  as  it  is  in  the  Hebrew,  "the 
wind  of  thCj  day,"  in  which  Jehovah  walked  in  Kden;®  the  time  till 
which  the  Beloved  was  to  feed  his  Hooks  aujoug  the  lilies,  when  the 
darkness  would  leave  him  free  to  seek  ho*  whom  his  soul  loved,  in  the 
ple..sant  hours  when  the  air  was  coohnl  \)y  the  night  wind.'^  Too 
strong  a  wind,  however,  is  avoided,  as  Jetvn^iah  shows  was  the  cus- 
tom in  his  day — "A  dry  [hot]  wind  [will  blow]  \nm\  the  bare  places 
of  the  wilderness  .  .  .  not  to  fan  nor  to  t^leause,  but  a  stronger  wmd."^ 

1  .Tob  xll.  30  (R.  v.).  The  three  texis  quoted  ai-o  \\w  only  o««>»  In  which  "  inoraK  "  occurs 
in  < he  Old  Testament.  2  Isa.  xxvlll.  27.  3  2  Sant.  xll.  ai.  »  Auuw  1. 3.  ft  Ruth  ill.  2.  6  Gen.  ill.  8. 
7  Cant.  il.  17.   This  Is  the  true  retuling  of  tbe  yrorUa,  "  Till  Ui«  dtiy  Uawu."   9  ^er,  ty.  Xl, 


98 


TIIK   HOLY    LAND   AND  THE   B1HI,K. 


[CHAP. 


"Winnnow  not  with  cvory  wind,"  liad,  indeed,  become  n  proverb  a« 
long  Jigo  us  the  days  of  the  son  of  Siraeh.^  The  ehalV,  grain,  and 
"teben,"  wliich  have  gradimlly  been  gathered  into  a  great  central 
mound,  are  thrown  np  against  tlie  wind  with  a  wooden  i'ork,  sdinctimes 
of  two  prongs,  but  more  commonl^^  witli  five  or  six;  tlic  l^oken  straw 
being  carefully  preserved  to  throw  into  the  centre,  wliil(!  llie  chaft"  is 
allowed  to  blow  away.  A  sieve  is  also  used  now,  generally  by  women: 
a  light,  half-oval  wooden  frame,  about  a  yard  across,  with  a  coarse 
hair  or  palm-fibre  bottom  ;  the  winnower  holding  it  by  the  ronnd  side 
and  tossing  np  the  grain  from  it  against  the  wind.'^  Two  winnowings 
are  necessary:  the  first  to  separate  the  "teben"  and  the  chaiV;  the 
second  to  sift  out  the  unthreshed  ears  and  pieces  of  earth  mixed  with 
the  grain.  The  forlc,  or  shovel — for  sometimes  a  wooden  shovel  ' 
used,  like  half  of  a  small  barrel-lid,  the  ronnd  side  towards  the  handle 
— finally  separates  the  g. ain  completely,  so  that  it  is  ready  to  be  put 
into  the  garner.  Images  taken  i'rom  the  threshing-fioor  :ire  frccpient 
in  Scripture.  "The  wicked,"  says  Job,  "are  as  teben  before  the  wind, 
and  as  chafl:'  that  the  storm  carrieth  away,"^^  and  this  terrible  tignre  is 
often  repeated.  As  in  our  Lord's  day,  the  chalV  and  brokni  .^t raw- 
unavoidably  left  on  the  ground,  after  every  care  in  winnowing  and 
gathering,  are  burnt,  at  once  to  get  rid  of  them  and  to  fertilize  the  soil 
by  the  ashes,  a  practice  that  throws  a  terrible  light  on  the  Ba])iist's 
words:^  "  VVho.se  fan  is  in  His  hand,  and  lie  will  thoroughly  cleansi- 
His  threshing-floor,  and  He  will  gather  the  wheat  into  tlie  garner,  but 
the  chaft*  He  will  burn  with  an  unquenchable  fire."  Sonietinies,  indeed, 
the  stubble  in  the  fields  is  burnt,  for  the  same  reasons,  ns  Isaiah  must 
have  seen  before  he  wrote  the  verse,  "As  the  tongue  of  fire  devoureth 
the  stubble,  and  as  the  dry  grass  sitdceth  down  in  the  flame,  so  their 
root  shall  be  as  rottenness,  and  their  blossom  shall  go  up  as  dust."^ 

Another  passage  in  the  same  prophet,  alluding  in  part  to  the 
threshing-floor,  has  often  been  misunderstood,  and,  indeed,  is  mistrans- 
lated in  tlie  lievised  Version"  — "  Moab  shall  betrodden  down  under  Him 
[Jehovah],  even  as  straw  is  trodden  down  for  the  dunghill."  The 
Revised  Version  reads:  "even  as  straw  is  trodden  down  in  the  water  of 
the  dunghill" — that  is,  in  the  pool  of  liquid  manure  connected  with  a 
dunghill  in  our  ideas.  But  there  is  no  such  a  thing  in  Palestine  as  a 
dunghill,  and  there  is  no  reason  to  think  there  ever  was.  Gardens  are 
manured  chiefly  with  goats'  dung;  and  in  some  parts  the  dung  of  pig- 
eons, obtained  from  dove-cots  and  jngeon-towers  in  the  neighborhood, 
is  used  for  cucumbers  and  melons.  No  manure  requiring  to  be  carried 
is  ever  used  in  the  grain-fields  or  pastures.  Even  the  abundant  manure 
accumulated  in  the  cattle-sheds  during  winter  is  left  undisturbed  till 
the  rains  wash  it  away,  unless  there  be  gardens  at  hand.     ^J^he  Hebrew 

lEcclus.  V.  9.    2  Amos  ix.  9.       3  Job  xxi.  18;  Isa.  xli.  15, 16;  Fs.  1.  4;  xxxv.  6.    4  MalK  iit.  12 
(B.  V.) ;  Luke  HI.  17.   5  Isa.  v.  24  (R.  V.).   6  Isa.  xxv.  10. 


ni.i 


ASUDOD — MEJDE. 


word  "Mftdmenah,"  triinsUited  "dungliill,"  is  the  imme  of  a  town  in 
Moiib,  famous  no  doubt,  for  its  tlircHliing-floors,  but  ulso  for  the  huge 
mound  of  all  unclcanness — the  town  dust-hcap'  — found  in  every  Eastern 
town;  "Miulnunudi"  being  the  word  for  this  Oriental  characteristic. 
Jeremiah  uses  it  in  its  short  form,  "Madmen,"  for  the  Moabitish  town, 
but  there  was  also  a  Benjamito  place  of  the  same  name'-*  a  little  way 
north  of  Jerusalein.  Isaiah's  meaning,  therefore,  is  that  Moab  will  be 
trodden  down  by  Jehovah  as  the  "tebcn  "  is  trodden  to  fragments  ou 
the  threshing-floors  of  Madmeuah.^ 

The  words  that  follow:  "And  He  [Jehovah]  shall  spread  forth  ITis 
hands  in  the  midst  thereof,  as  he  that  swimmeth  spreadcth  forth  his 
hands  to  swim,"  need,  for  their  ri<j lit  understanding,  that  one  should 
have  seen  Orientals  swimming^  They  never  "spread  forth"  their 
hands  as  with  us,  but  strike  tlio  water  with  one  hand  after  the  other, 
from  above,  boating  it  down,  as  it  wei-c,  and  passing  triumphantly 
over  it.  So  would  Jehovah  do  with  Moab — lie  would  "lay  low  his 
l)ride."4 

When  the  grain  is  finally  winnowed,  sifted,  and  thrown  up  into  a 
great  heap,  the  owner  often  takes  up  his  quarters  on  it  for  the  night, 
just  as  Boaz  did  Icig  ago,^  to  watch  it  till,  on  the  morrow,  he  can  get 
it  carried  to  his  underground  cistern  or  8torehouse,in  bags  on  his  beasts, 
for  there  are  no  wheeled  vehicles  now  in  Palestine,  though  there  were 
in  antiquity."  It  is  a  curious  sight  to  watch  the  poor  donkeys,  with 
their  loads  of  grain,  marching  along  so  meekly,  or  the  gaunt  camels 
swaying  forwards  under  their  huge  bags  or  baskets.  The  country  is 
full  of  underground  cisterns,  formerly  used  to  store  grain ;  their  mouths 
being  carefully  hidden  with  a  layer  of  soil  to  prevent  discovery  by  a 
robber  or  an  enemy.  It  was  of  such  granaries  that  the  men  of  Shiloh 
spoke  in  pleading  for  their  lives  with  the  murderous  Ishmael:  "Slay 
us  not,  for  we  have  treasures  in  the  field,  of  wheat,  and  of  barley,  and 
of  oil,  and  of  honey."'  Such  subterranean  storehouses  are  still  very 
numerous  in  some  parts,  Tristram  found  nearly  fifty  of  them,  each 
about  six  feet  deep,  in  one  village  on  the  Dead  Sea,  from  which  a  foray 
of  Arabs  had  plundered  the  millet,  wheat,  barley,  and  indigo  })reviously 
hidden  away  in  tViem.* 

The  yield  of  grain  in  ancient  times  in  Palestine  must  have  been 
large,  since  we  find  a  surplus  not  needed  by  the  home  population 
exported  to  Phoenicia ;  Middle  and  North  Palestine  and  the  districts 
east  of  the  Jordan  especially  maintaining  this  outward  trade.^  The 
usual  return  seems  to  have  been  about  thirty-fold,  although  sometimes 

1  Jer.  xlviit.  2.  2  Isa.  x.  31.  3  A  various  rea«liiig  of  the  Hebrew  would  make  the  sense  of  ti.4 
passage  "  by  the  waters  "  of  Madmenah.  "  Madmen ''  occurs  in  Jer.  xlvili.  2 ;  "  Madmenah,"  Isa. 
X.  31;  "Madmannah,"  Josh.  XV.  31;  lChron.ii.49.  4^Isa.xxv.  10.  .S  Ruth  ili.  7.  618am.vl.7; 
2  Sam.  vi.  3;  I  Chron.  xiii.  7;  Amos.  ii.  13.  In  the  Pentateuch  the  same  word  is  used  nine  times, 
and  is  always  translated  "  waggons  " :  referring  to  those  brought  from  Egypt,  or  used  there. 
7  Jer.  xli.  8.   8  Land  qf  Itrad,  p.  S?.    9  1  Kings  v.  9, 11 ;  Ezek.  zxTn.  17 ;  Ezra  ui.  7 ;  Acts  xU.  30. 


-  v^^ 

^  '•**<>> 


■> 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


4^4 


^o 


1.0    ^^tii 

■u  iiii  12.2 


I.I 


u 


IL25  lU   1 1.6 

II^^^^^^B      lllllsBI^^S      ^M^^^^^B 


Hiolographic 

Sdmces 

Corporation 


O 


79  Wnr  MAM  STRHT 

WnSTIR,N.Y.  149M 
(7U)  •72-4903 


4^       4^\    ^^ 


;\ 


k 


100 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


(Chap. 


it  reached  a  hundred.^  At  the  present  day,  however,  wheat  yields 
only  twelve  to  sixteen- fold,  though  barley  often  yields  fifty,  and 
dhourra  gives  a  return,  not  seldom,  of  from  a  huudred-and-fifby  to  two* 
hundred-fold. 


CHAPTER  Vm. 


OAZAo 


!    . 


Outside  Burberah  is  a  large  pond  at  the  roadside,  to  collect  the  rain- 
water for  use  in  summer;  the  latter  and  early  rains,  in  the  close  and 
opening  of  the  year,  filling  it.  The  water  was  the  color  of  mud,  but  it 
seemed  to  give  delight  alike  to  man  and  beast.  "Women  with  their  jars 
on  their  shoulders  were  bringing  a  supply  from  it  for  household  use,  cattle 
were  drinking  it,  and  dirty  children  were  swimming  in  it,  making  the 
water  splash  up  before  them  as  they  beat  it  with  each  hand  alter- 
nately .^  Some  of  the  women  had  children  on  their  shoulder,  and  I 
could  not  but  notice  how  firmly  the  little  creatures  kept  their  seat. 
As  soon  as  they  are  out  of  their  mummy -like  swaddling-clothes,^  which 
are  strips  of  calico  about  six  inches  wide  and  three  yards  long,  they 
are  taught  to  perch  on  their  mother's  shoulder,  holding  on  to  her  head, 
while  she  supports  their  back  with  one  hand.  Very  soon,  however, 
this  is  unnecessary;  the  child  learning  to  clasp  its  mother's  shoulder 
with  its  knees,  so  as  to  need  no  other  help.  Mother  and  child  have 
thus  both  hands  free,  while  in  the  one  case  the  mother  is  made  to  carry 
herself  erect,  which  of  itself  is  a  great  benefit,  and  in  the  other  the  child 
is  trained  to  be  a  splendid  rider;  for  the  same  grip  with  the  knees 
which  keeps  it  safe  on  the  shoulder  makes  it  afterwards  perfectly  at 
home  in  the  saddle.  An  Oriental  will  carry  a  coin  all  day  between 
his  knee  and  the  saddle,  while  riding,  often  at  full  speed,  over  very 
rough  ground,  and  show  it  in  the  same  place  in  the  evening ;  so  per- 
fect is  his  seat.  Boys  are  more  often  honored  by  a  place  on  tneir 
mother's  shoulder  than  girls,  for  there  is  pride  in  a  man-child,  but  a 
daughter  counts  for  very  little.  It  is  therefore  a  mark  of  a  better  state 
of  things  when  Isaiah  says  of  the  long  procession  of  the  returning 
exiles  from  Babylon:  "Thy  daughters  shall  be  carried  upon  their 
shoulders,"  *  The  mud  huts  and  walls  of  the  little  courts  were  stuck 
over  witi  cakes  of  cattle-dung,  drying  for  fuel.  ,, 

1  Qen.  X7  v\  12;  Matt.  xtli.  8.    2  See  ante,  p.  152.    3  Luke  ii.  7.  12;  Ezek.  xvi.  4;  Job  zxxvlti.9. 
Babies  are  ruM>ed  with  salt  before  tbe^  are  put  In  tbelr  swaddling-clothes.   4  Isa.  xllz.  22. 


MoMaster  tlmvew' 

LIBRARV 


[Chap. 

yields 
y,  and 

X)tWO- 


the  rain- 
lose  and 
d,  but  it 
lieir  jars 
ise,  cattle 
king  the 
iid  alter- 
er,  and  I 
heir  seat. 
8,"  which 
)ng,  they 
ler  head, 
however, 
shoulder 
lild  have 
J  to  carry 
the  child 
he  knees 
rtectly  at 
between 
►ver  very 
;  so  pr- 
on  their 
lid,  but  a 
(tter  state 
eturning 
lon  their 
ire  stuck 


A  Threshing  Floor.   (See  page  96.) 


bbxxxviii.9. 
iix.22. 


VIII.l 


GAZA. 


101 


Outside  the  village  groves  there  are  no  trees,  and  between  the  vil- 
lages there  is  no  population.  The  absence  of  travel  on  the  road  was 
remarkable,  but  at  last  a  camel  from  Gaza  passed  us,  laden  with  crock- 
ery in  huge  nets  on  each  side  of  it.  Another  soon  followed,  with  large 
bales  of  something  unknown.  Then,  at  intervals,  came  two  companies 
of  men  driving  horses  from  Damascus  to  Egypt  for  sale,  or  for  the  use 
of  pilgrims  to  Meccah ;  thus  reversing  the  order  of  trade  in  antiquity, 
for  of  old  Egypt  supplied  Syria  with  horses.^  The  sand-hills  on  the 
right  now  came  almost  up  to  the  road,  for  a  time,  but  they  receded  ere 
long,  giving  way  to  arable  ground,  on  which  the  wheat  stood  three  or 
four  inches  high.  Flocks  of  sheep,  some  of  them  with  black  faces ; 
mud  cottages,  with  slightly-rounded  mud  roofs  covered  with  grass, 
soon  to  wither  under  the  growing  heat;^  herds  of  cattle,  asses,  and 
camels,  peaceably  feeding  on  the  hill-slopes,  marked  the  neighborhood 
of  Deir  Sineid,  round  which  peasants  in  cotton  tunics  and  turbans,  with 
the  long  sharp-pointed  goad  in  their  hand,  slowly  followed  the  yoked 
oxen,  small  and  thin,  which  dragged  their  light  ploughs.  One  could 
not  help  thinking  of  the  words  of  the  wise  Son  of  Sirach  as  these  poor 
men  stalked  patiently  along  their  furrows  of  a  few  inches  deep — sunk 
in  poverty,  and  forced  to  toil  from  sunrise  to  sunset,  mainly  to  pay 
their  taxes :  "  How  can  he  get  wisdom  that  holdeth  the  plough  and 
that  glorieth  in  the  goad,  that  driveth  oxen,  and  is  occupied  in  their 
labors,  and  whose  talk  is  of  bullocks ;  he  giveth  his  mind  to  make  fur- 
rows, and  is  diligent  to  give  the  kine  fodder."* 

Deir  Sineid,  like  all  the  villages  of  the  plain,  consists  of  mere  mud 
hovels.  At  the  entrance  to  it  rose  a  great  dust-heap,  as  in  all  Eastern 
villages  and  towns  ;  the  counterpart  of  that,  doubtless,  to  which  poor 
Job  betook  himself  in  his  affliction.*  The  "  aShes  "  "among"  which 
he  sat  down  were  the  "  mezbele,"  or  dust-mound,  of  a  Palestine  vil- 
lage, which  is  very  diflferent  from  the  farm  "  dunghill "  of  our  rural 
neighborhoods.  Manure  in  the  East  is  not  mixed  with  straw  as  with 
us,  no  litter  being  used  for  cattle  in  so  dry  and  warm  a  climate,  and  it 
is  almost  atirely  that  of  the  ass,  for  few  horses  are  kept,  and  cattle, 
sheep,  and  goats  are  generally  out  of  idoors,  day  and  night.  The  ordure 
is  brought  from  time  to  time,  dry,  with  every  other  form  of  refuse,  in 
baskets,  to  the  assigned  place  lieside  the  village,  and  usually  burnt 
every  month  ;  care  being  taken  to  select  a  day  on  which  the  smoke  is 
driven  away  from  human  dwellings.  But  as  the  ashes  are  left 
untouched,  the  "  mezbele  "  in  an  old  village  often  rises  high  above  the 
houses ;  the  rains  having  consolidated  it  into  a  hill,  which  is  exca- 
vated into  grain-pits,  where  corn  can  be  stored  through  the  year,  safe 
from  fermentation  or  vermin.  It  also  serves  the  villagers  as  a  look- 
out, and  is  the  favorite  lounging-place  in  the  cool  of  the  evening,  to 

1  lKlQgsx.28;2Cliron.i.  16;  ix.28.  2Fs.ozzlz.6.   8  Ecolus.  zzxtUI.  2&,  96.   4  Job  11.8. 


102 


THK  HOLY  LAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


[Chap. 


enjoy  the  air  which  blows  at  this  comparative  elevation.  Through 
the  day  it  is  the  playground  of  the  children ;  the  suft'erer  from  any 
loathsome  disease,  such  as  the  leprosy  of  Job,  shut  out  from  human 
dwellings,  makes  his  bed  on  it ;  and  the  wandering  beggar,  after  sit* 
ting  on  it  by  day  craving  alms,  burrows  during  the  night  in  its  ashes, 
which  the  sun  has  heated.  The  village  dogs  sun  themselves  on  it,  or 
gnaw  at  some  carcass  thrown  out  on  this  common  receptacle  of  all  vile- 
ness,  for  no  one  thinks  of  burying  a  dead  animal ;  it  is  either  left 
where  it  falls  or  dragged  to  the  "  mezbele."  Many  places  in  the  Hau- 
TsLn  take  their  names  from  the  size  and  number  of  these  hills,  just  as 
Madmenah,  as  we  have  already  seen,  did  in  former  ages,  and  many  a 
modern  village  is  built  on  a  "  mezbele  "  from  its  healthiness,  being  ele- 
vated as  it  is  above  the  undrained  ground  below,  and  with  the  view  of 
getting  the  cool  air  on  its  summit.^ 

Passing  through  these  villages  in  the  evening,  when  the  cattle  are 
returning  from  the  field,  it  is  striking  to  notice  how  often  the  poor 
creatures  go  directly  to  their  own  feeding-place,  generally  in  the  yard 
of  their  owner's  house.  They  will  make  their  way  through  the  vil- 
lagers sitting  around,  perhaps  at  their  evening  meal,  and  open  the 
doors  into  their  own  quarters  with  their  horns,  without  anyone  aiding 
them.  Isaiah  must  have  noticed  this  when  he  wrote,  "  The  ox  know- 
eth  his  owner,  and  the  ass  his  master's  crib:  but  Israel  doth  not  know, 
my  people  doth  not  consider."  ^ 

The  last  village  before  entering  Gaza  is  called  Beit  Hanun — "the 
House  of  Grace":  a  sad  misnomer,  since  its  population  have  the  worst 
name  as  rogues  and  thieves.  It  stands  on  a  nill,  with  a  fair  proportion 
of  gardens  and  barley-patches  round  it,  and,  of  course,  a  rain-pond, 
with  its  crowd  of  urchins  enjoying  themselves  in  the  water.  Many 
cattle  and  calves  were  feeding  on  the  slopes.  Country  people,  both 
men  and  women,  passed  by  us  on  their  way  to  the  village  or  to  Gaza, 
many  of  the  women  carrying  on  their  heads  baskets  of  eggs,  cheese, 
or,  rather,  the  curd  which  passes  for  cheese  in  Palestine,  and  vegeta- 
bles, or  great  jars  of  sour  goats'  milk.  I  noticed  also  a  motl^er  on  an 
ass,  her  child  in  her  lap,  her  husband  walking  behind:  a  picture,  per- 
haps, of  Mary  and  her  infant  Son,  with  Joseph,  as  they  journeyed  from 
Bethlehem  to  Egypt,  it  may  be  by  this  very  route.  A  soldier  on  a 
swift  horse  galloped  by,  and  many  a  thin,  scorched  peasant  wended  i 
homewards  on  a  lowly  ass,  his  naked  feet  almost  touching  the  ground  | 
at  its  sides. 

Gaza  is  embowered  in  great  olive-woods  which  stretch  north-east- 
wards the  whole  four  miles  to  Beit  Hanun.    The  sand-dunes  directly! 
north  of  the  town,  and  to  the  west,  are  broken  by  ^  wide  oasis  oil 
olive-groves  and  gardens,  which  girdle  Gaza  on  nearly  all  sides,  in  aj 
1  See  Consnl-General,  Dr.  Wetotein,  in  Delttzsch's  lob,  p.  62,  2  Isa.  1. 8. 


vmj 


GAZA. 


108 


wide  sweep.  The  town  itself  lies  on  a  hill,  100  feet  above  the  plain, 
and  180  feet  above  the  sea,  with  some  palm-trees  rising  beneath, 
amidst,  and  above  it;  five  minarets  breaking  the  outline  of  the  flat 
roofs  and  mud  walls  which  cluster  over  each  other  up  the  slope.  A 
cemented,  low-domed  fountain  of  mud  bricks  stood  on  the  road  out- 
side, then  came  the  great  rain-pond  of  the  town,  which  had  leaked 
across  the  road,  making  it,  for  a  space,  into  a  quagmire.  Six  men  sat 
cross-legged  on  the  ground  at  the  roadside,  doing  nothing;  and, 
beyond  them,  mud  walls,  topped  by  the  hideous  prickly  pear,  stretched 
up  the  hill,  enclosing  sadly  wild-looking  orchards  of  palms,  figs,  and 
other  fruit-trees. 

No  one  who  has  not  seen  an  Oriental  town  can  imagine  its  filthiness. 
The  mud  houses  crumble  into  dust  at  a  given  rate  daily,  and  all  the 
garbage,  offal,  and  foulness  of  daily  life  are  thrown  into  th^  narrow 
lane,  when  the  dust-hill  is  too  far  off.  Bivulets  of  abomination  soak 
out  from  a  hole  made  for  their  escape  at  the  side  of  each  door.  Nor 
is  tins  the  only  kind  of  filth.  There  are  no  scavengers,  and  there  is 
no  decency.^ 

I  went  several  times  through  the  chief  streets  of  the  town,  which 
were  wretched  in  the  extreme,  according  to  "Western  notions,  yet  the 
bazaar  was  well  supplied  with  some  kinds  of  goods,  especially  with  the 
different  articles  of  food.  Masses  of  dried  figs,  dates,  heaps  of  beans, 
lentils,  dried  corn  and  flour,  piles  of  bread,  cheese,  and  vegetables,  and 
much  else,  were  exposed  for  sale.  The  market  of  Jerusalem  and  other 
[Hebrew  towns  must  have  been  much  the  same  in  the  time  of  David." 
An  extensive  trade  is  driven  in  supplying  the  caravans  which  "cross 
the  desert  with  provisions,  and  in  providing  for  those  returning  from 
[it  the  long-missed  enjoyment  of  fresh  food  of  every  kind.  The  differ- 
ient  trades  are  found,  as  once  was  the  case  in  England,  in  separate 
streets,  so  that  there  is  a  district  quarter  for  each.  In  one  street 
jailors  sit  in  open  booths  on  both  sides  of  the  way,  plying  their  useful 
irt;  in  another,  cobblers  make  light  slippers  of  red  and  yellow  leather, 

)r  patch  up  old  ones  which  in  England  would  be  thrown  out  as  hope- 
lessly beyond  repair.  The  smiths,  also,  have  their  own  street,  where 
pey  carry  on  their  rude  industry  with  small  goat-skin  bellows  and 

liniature  forges,  sitting  on  the  floor  to  beat  the  metal  on  small  anvils. 

LS  I  looked  at  them  I  could  not  help  thinking  of  the  day  when  work- 
ing in  iron  was  prohibited  to  the  Hebrews,  as  it  was  in  after-days  for- 
bidden to  the  Bomans  by  Porsena,  and  the  peasants  had  to  come  down 

Vom  their  hills  to  this  very  town  and  other  Philistine  cities  of  the 

ja-coast  plain  for  work  of  this  kind,  because  "there  was  no  smith 

)und  throughout  all  the  land  of  Israel;   for  the  Philistines  said,  Lest 

ll  It  Is  to  the  odious  ciiRtom  of  Orientals  that  Scripture  often  alludes  when  It  spealts  of  "dung 
h  the  face  of  the  earth  " ;  e.g.,  Ps.  Ixxxiii.  10;  .Ter.  viii.  2.  To  remove  the  evils  resulting  was  (be 
^lect  of  the  Law  of  Moses,  given  in  Deut.  xxiii.  13.   2  1  Sam.  zxx.  11  ff ;  2  Sam.  xvii.  28. 


lUB  .BUaiUMiMiaaiialMMMI 


104 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


[OBAr. 


-    ' 


the  Hebrews  make  them  swords  or  spears;  but  all  the  Israelites  went 
down  to  the  Philistines,  to  sharpen  every  man  his  [plough-]  share,  and 
his  spade,  and  his  hoe,  and  hm  bill,  when  the  plough -shares,  spades, 
hoes,  forks,  or  bills,  or  ox-goads  had  worn  blunt."  ^  One  could  not 
forget,  moreover,  that  in  anoient  Jerusalem  the  different  trades  were 
confined  to  separate  streets;  for  wo  read  of  the  "Bakers'  street," *  the 
"Goldsmitlis'  street,"  and  the  "Oilsellera'  street,"  besides  which  the 
Talmud  speaks  of  other  quarters  for  difl'erent  trades. 

Everywhere  cocks  and  hens  wandered  at  their  will;  eggs  being 
now,  as  they  have  been  for  many  ages,  a  principal  article  of  diet,  and 
fowls  the  staple  form  of  animal  .food.  Already,  in  Christ's  day,  these 
birds  were  numerous  in  Jerusalem  and  Palestine  generally,*  but  they 
were  then  a  comparatively  recent  innovation.  Birds,  indeed,  were  fat- 
tened for  the  table  among  the  ancient  Hebrews,*  for  Nehemiah  says: 
"Fowls  were  prepared  for  me;"  and  "fatted  fowl"  were  part  of  Solo- 
mon's "provision,"  but  there  is  no  proof  that  they  were  ordinary 
poultry,  Solomon's  fowl  being  apparently  geese,  ducks,  or  swans. 
Doves  are  the  only  birds  which  we  know,  certainly,  to  have  been  bred 
by  the  Hebrews  for  the  table.*^  Neither  the  cock  nor  the  hen  is  men- 
tioned in  the  Old  Testament,  nor  are  eggs  enumerated  among  the  arti- 
cles of  Hebrew  food ;  passages  in  which  they  are  alluded  to,  referri-ng 
to  those  of  wild  birds.**  Nor  is  it  strange  that  this  should  be  so, 
for  the  ancient  Egyptians,  from  whom  the  Hebrews  came  out,  had  no 
barn-door  fowls,  the  hen  never  appearing  on  their  monuments,  though 
geese  and  ducks  are  constantly  introduced.  Indeed,  the  hen  was 
unknown  even  in  Greece  till  the  second  half  of  the  sixth  century  before 
Christ;  Homer  and  Hesiud  never  alluding  to  it.  Originally  an  Indian 
bird,  it  was  early  known  to  the  Babylonians,  for  we  find  it  on  very 
ancient  gems  and  cylinders  as  a  symbol  of  some  deity.  It  appeared  in 
Palestine  for  the  first  time  after  the  rise  of  the  Persian  Empire,  as  it 
did  also  among  the  Greeks,  who  long  knew  it  as  the  "Persian  bird." 
Hence  we  find  it  noticed  in  the  New  Testament.  The  Book  of  Esdras, 
also,  which  was  written  in  the  reign  of  Domitian,"^  in  its  striking  copy 
of  our  Lord's  beautiful  figure,  put  in  the  mouth  of  the  "Almighty 
Lord,"  introduces  it:  "I  gathered  you  together  as  a  hen  gathereth  her 
chickens  under  her  wings." 

On  the  hill,  almost  in  the  centre  of  Gaza,  stands  the  chief  mosque, 
originally  a  Christian  church  of  the  twelfth  century.  No  difficulty 
was  made  as  to  my  entering — though,  in  accordance  with  the  primaeval 
custom  of  the  East,  it  was  necessary  to  take  oft'  my  boots  and  replace 

1  1  Sam.  xiii.  19— 21.  emended  translation,  Thenlus,  De  Wette.  2  Jer.  xxxvii.  21 ;  Neh.  iii.82; 
Matt.  XXV.  9.  3  2  EsdraHl.  .30;  Matt,  xxtii.  37;  xxvi.  34,  &c.  See  Reference  Bible.  4  Neh.  v.  18; 
1  Kings  Iv.  23.  5  Gen.  XV.  9;  2  Kings  vl.  26.  6  Deut.  xxll.  6;  Isa.  x.  14.  7  See  reference  above. 
Also  Keuss.  Gench.  desA.  7.,  S  697.     DomUlan  reigned  a.d.  81—96.     Bdttcher  is  clearly  wrong 

iAehrenlene,  1897)  in  ascribing  tlie  absence  of  hens  among  the  Hebrews  to  their  being  hated  as  an 
Egyptian  bird.   Tliey  were  not  Egyptian. 


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ilble.  4  Nell.  V.  18; 
IB  reference  above. 
tr  Is  clearly  wrong 
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tOb4 


VIII.J 


OAZA. 


105 


them  with  slippers  before  stepping  upon  holy  ground.  This  rule  has 
even  extended  to  private  houses,  the  sitting-room  of  which,  being  at 
times  used  for  prayer,  must  not  be  trodden  except  with  barQ  or  slip- 
pered feet.  So  It  was  with  Moses  at  the  burning  bush,  ^  and  with 
Joshua  before  the  captain  of  the  Lord's  host,  ^  and  with  Isaiah  when, 
in  his  great  vision,  he  saw  the  Lord  high  and  lifted  up.^  The  dust  of 
common  ground  must  not  touch  the  holy  spot. 

The  mosque  has  three  aisles,  which  formed  part  of  the  ancient 
church ;  rows  of  pillars,  with  Corinthian  capitals,  dividing  theni  one 
fVom  the  other.  On  the  south  side  and  east  end  additions  have  been 
made  bv  the  Arabs.  Of  the  three,  the  middle  aisle  is  the  highest,  the 
roof  being  here  supported  by  two  rows  of  pillars,  one  above  the  other, 
each  pillar  of  the  lower  row  having  a  cluster  of  small  marble  pillars 
round  it,  for  greater  strength.  The  church  is  built  in  the  old  basilica 
form,  but  the  roof-arches  of  the  side  aisles  are  in  the  Arab  style.  A 
small  choir  at  the  south  end  of  the  building  rests  on  a  number  of  small 
pillars  without  capitals.  The  west  doorway  is  a  beautiful  specimen  of 
the  Italian  Gothic  of  the  twelfth-century  churches  in  Palestine,  with 
delicate  clustered  shafts  and  pillars,  deeply  undercut  lily-leaves  adorn- 
ing the  capitals.  The  roof,  of  groined  vaulting,  is  entire;  and  on  one 
of  the  pillars  of  the  upper  row  is  a  touching  design  of  the  seven- 
branched  candlestick,  inside  a  wreath.  Pity  that  its  light  should  be 
extinguished  by  the  superstition  of  Mahomet,  but  it  has  been  so  since 
about  A.  D.  1350,  as  recorded  in  an  inscription  on  one  of  the  walls.  It 
had  shone,  however,  for  many  generations  since  the  £rst  church  of 
which  we  know  at  Gaza  was  built,  about  A.  d.  402.*  In  Christ's  day 
there  were  ten  heathen  temples  in  Gaza — to  the  Sun,  Venus,  Apollo, 
Proserpina,  Hecate,  Fortune,  "The  Hiereion,"  and  Mamas, ^ the  ^eat- 
est  of  trie  gods  of  Gaza,  whose  sanctuary,  which  was  round,  was  believed 
by  the  townsmen  to  be  more  glorious  than  any  other  in  the  world. 
All  these  shrines,  however,  were  pulled  down  by  a  decree  obtained  by 
the  wife  of  the  Emperor  Arcadius  from  her  husband,  commanding 
them  to  be  removea,  and  a  church — which  was  dedicated  at  Easter, 
A.  D.  406 — was  built  on  the  site  of  the  temple  of  the  god  Mamas. 
Very  curiously,  in  1880  a  statue  of  this  famous  deity,  fifteen  feet  high, 
was  discovered  by  some  peasants  in  a  large  natural  mound  about  six 
miles  south  of  Gaza.  It  is  a  human  figure  in  a  sitting  position,  with 
an  arrangement  of  the  hair  like  that  of  the  classic  Jupiter.  The  peas- 
ants had  commenced  to  destroy  it  as  soon  as  it  was  found,  but  it  was 
rescued  from  them  by  the  English  missionary  at  Gaza,  though  not 
before  the  face  had  been  much  injured.  Mamas  was  the  great  Jupi> 
ter,  the  god  of  rain  and  firuitfidness,  and  was  honored,  besides,  as  "the 

^  1  Ex.  iiL  6.  2  Josh.  v.  15.  8  isa.  xx.  2.  4  Pat.  i\ind  Memoirt,  ill.  251.  5  Theie  were  six  temple* 
to  heathen  gods,  and  four  to  goddesses  (Sohtrer,  JT.  T.  Zettgeteh^  p.  879.) 


106 


THR   HOLY  LAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


(OSAV. 


living,  the  etema\  the  universal,  nnd  tlio  everlasting."  One  arm  and 
both  legs  appear  to  have  been  sawn  oft',  as  if  some  pious  heathen  had 
out  the  idol  in  pieces  to  facilitate  his  saving  it  fVom  the  fury  of  the 
Ciiristians.  The  statue  is  now  at  Constantinople.  A  register  1,000 
years  old  is  said  to  bo  preserved  in  the  present  church,  built  in  the 
place  of  that  which  stood  on  the  site  of  the  temple  of  Manias. 

Remains  of  antiquity  are  found  here  and  there  in  the  city.  A  shoe- 
maker in  one  street,  or  rather,  narrow  alley — for  there  are  no  streets 
in  our  sense — was  beating  leather  on  an  upturned  marble  Corinthian 
capital.  The  second  mosque  is  built  largely  of  ancient  cut  stones. 
Marble  pillars  lie  as  doorsteps  at  the  wretched  Government  olRces,  and 
sculptured  capitals  serve  the  same  use  before  many  private  dwellings. 
Towards  the  sea  are  some  pieces  of  granite  columns,  one  of  the  fVag- 
mcnts  being  fourteen  feet  long.  On  the  east  and  south,  beyond  the 
houses,  are  mounds  which  probably  show  the  position  of  the  ancient, 
or  perhaps  the  Crusading  walls. 

The  strength  of  the  Philistine  city  must  have  lain  rather  in  the  arms 
of  its  defenders  than  in  its  position,  but  such  protection  as  walls  and 
gates  afforded  has  long  since  gone.  Yet  the  streets,  being  very  narrow, 
could  be  easily  barred  by  chains,  as,  indeed,  some  of  them,  on  occa- 
sion, are.  The  heat  is  much  greater  than  at  Jerusalem,  but,  contrary 
to  the  practice  there,  the  streets  are  never  arched  over,  the  only  pro- 
tection being  plaited  mats,  laid  out  roughly  on  poles,  and  extending 
from  the  houses  and  shops.  These  shops  are  unspeakably  poor;  in 
not  a  few  cases  mere  holes,  open  in  front,  with  more  dirt  tnan  goods. 
A  traditional  site  of  the  "  House "  of  Dagon,  which  Samson  pulled 
down,^  is,  of  course,  shown.  This  famous  building  stood,  apparently, 
at  the  farther  end  of  an  open  square,  bordered  inside  by  colonnades ; 
the  flat  roof  of  the  temple — for  roofs  are  nearly  all  flat  in  the  East — 
projecting  beyond  the  sanctuary  itself,  to  give  shade  beneath,  while 
also  affording  a  point  of  vantage  from  which  to  look  down  on  the  court 
below.  This  great  veranda  roof  rested  in  its  centre,  it  would  appear, 
on  no  more  than  two  great  pillars,  and  was  crowded  by  the  great  ones 
of  Gaza  when  Samson  was  brought  out  to  make  sport  for  them  in  the 
wide  quadrangle  below.  Some  of  the  large  mansions  in  Barbary, 
indeed,  seem  to  be  built  in  much  the  same  way;  a  central  structure, 
of  great  size,  with  colonnades  and  chambers  on  each  side,  enclosing  an 
open  space,  which  forms  a  large  hollow  square.  The  palace  of  the 
Dey  of  Algiers,  in  olden  times,  was  of  this  kind,  and  its  flat  roof  was 
often  crowded  by  favored  spectators,  assembled  to  divert  themselves 
by  exhibitions  in  the  vacant  area.  The  great  platform  thus  utilized 
as  a  "stand"  projected  a  long  way  in  front  of  the  building,  and  was 
supported  in  the  middle  by  two  pillars  standing  near  each  other. 

1  Jodg.  ZYl.  27—801. 


MkT, 

and 
had 
fthe 
.,000 
1  tbe 

shoe* 
LreeU 
itliian 
tones. 
18,  and 
Uings. 
3  frag- 
nd  the 
noient, 


vm.] 


OAZA. 


107 


These  pulled  down,  the  whole  structure  above  would  fall,  and  it.  may 
well  bo  that  the  "  House"  of  Dagon  was  aornewhai;  similar.* 

The  Turkish  governor  of  the  town  happening  to  be  holding  his  local 
court  while  I  was  at  Gaza,  1  visited  it.    Ten  red-leather  chairs  stood 
at  one  end  of  an  otherwise  unfurnished  room,  with  a  stone  floor  in  very 
bud  condition;    tlie  walls  were  yellow- washed.     There  was  a  small 
tiihlo  lit  one  corner,  and  beside  this,  on  a  line  with  the  chairs,  sat  the 
^<>vernor,  in  a  ohair  with  arms;  his  cigarette-box  on  the  table,  and  a 
niirgileii,  or  water-pipe,  at  his  feet;  his  dress  European,  except  his  fez; 
IiIh  complexion  a  light  brown;  hie  features  regular,  though  the  nose 
htul  decidedly  the  command-in-ohief,  especially  in  comparison  with  his 
somewhat  small  eyes.    An  officer  in  ^old  epaulets  and  blue  dress  sat 
nortv;  two  soldiers  in  very  ancient  uniform  stood  at  the  door.    From 
time  to  time  local  dignitaries  entered  and  took  possession  of  a  chair, 
on  what  we  should  call  the  bench;  one,  in  a  black  abba  of  fine  cloth, 
with  a  striped  silk  di-ess  below  it,  a  red  shawl  round  his  waist,  a  showy 
turban,  and  bright  red  slippers,  being  the  most  noteworthy.     A  dozen 
Arabs,  in  turbans  and  sheepskin  coats,  the  wool  inside,  were  standing 
before  the  kadi,  each  speaking  at  the  top  of  his  voice  and  all  at  once. 
A  few  feet  square  of  a  public  market,  when  rival  salesmen  are  trying 
their  lungs  against  each  other,  might  help  one  to  reproduce  the  scene. 
After  a  time  the  kadi  interrupted  the  hubbub,  which  subsided  into  a 
dead  calm  as  he  motioned  to  speak.     His  judgment  was  given  in  a  few 
words,  and  as  there  was  no  appeal,  all  went  out  as  quietly  as  so  many 
children  from  the  dreaded  presence  of  a  schoolmaster.    Presently  a 
fine  old  man,  the  sheikh  of  the  Terabin  Arabs,  stepped  across  to  one  of 
the  ahairs,  and,  sitting  down,  addressed  the  bench.    A  murder  had  been 
committed,  some  time  be+bre,  in  Gaza.     Two  Arabs,  between  whom 
there  was  a  blood-feud,  had  accidentally  met  in  the  house  of  the  Eng- 
lish missionary;  the  second  comer  of  the  two  turning  away  instantly, 
with  a  scowl,  when  he  saw  his  intended  victim.     A  few  hours  later, 
this  unfortunate,  while  sitting  in  the  town  market-place,  was  shot  dead 
by  his  enemy,  in  open  day;  the  murderer  fleeing  to  his  tribe  in  the 
desert.    The  slain  man  had  belonged  to  the  tribe  of  which  the  present 
.jpeaker  was  sheikh,  and  the  governor  had  ordered  him  to  arrest  the 
man-slayer.     But  this  was  no  easy  matter.     War  had  broken  out 
between  the  tribes  immediately  after  the  murder,  and  had  only  been 
v^uelled  by  sending  400  soldiers  from  Jerusalem,  but  these  were  now 
withdrawn,  leaving  the  author  of  all  the  trouble  at  large.     "If  you 
send  troops,  we  shall  try  to  arrest  him,"  said  the  sheikh,  "but  if  you  do 
not,  we  shall  not  obey.    There  has  been  fighting  already,  as  you  know, 
and  there  would  be  more."    Having  spoken  thus,  he  rose,  and  left  the 
court-house,  without  waiting  for  a  reply, 

1  Shaw,  Baritary,  1.893. 


ii 


108 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


[Chap. 


Blood-revenge  has  been  a  passion  among  all  Semitic  people  Arom  the 
earliest  ages.  It  may  have  arisen,  in  some  degree,  as  lynch  law  has 
sprung  up  in  the  frontier  states  of  America,  from  the  imperfect  develop- 
ment of  society,  and  the  fancied  necessity  of  taking  private  means  to 
secure  justice;  but  whatever  its  source,  it  was  early  recognized  as  not 
only  a  right  but  a  duty.  Among  the  Bedouins  it  has,  for  ages,  been 
made  not  only  a  personal  matter,  but  the  aflfair  of  the  whole  tribe  of  a 
murdered  man,  on  each  member  of  which,  lies  the  responsibility  of 
obtaining  vengeance.  It  considers  not  only  the  murderer  or  his  next 
of  blood,  but  every  member  of  his  family,  or  even  of  his  tribe,  as  legi- 
timate objects  of  revenge,  and  thus  bloody  and  long-continued  feuds  on 
a  lar^e  scale  often  arise.  The  murder  of  Abner  by  Joab,  "for  the 
blood  of  Asahel,  his  brother,"  ^  which  nearly  led  to  a  war,  and  the 
fear  of  the  woman  of  Tekoah  that  the  avengers  of  blood  woidd  not  be 
content  without  life  for  life,^  shows  how  deeply  and  dangerously  the 
custom  had  rooted  itself  among  the  Hebrews.  The  law  wa?,  indeed, 
written,  "He  that  killeth  any  man  shall  surely  be  put  to  death";  *  but 
the  avenger  of  blood  was  left  to  be  the  executioner,  due  reprisals  being 
regarded  as  so  completely  a  fulfilment  of  the  Divine  will  that  God 
Himself  is  spoken  of  as  the  blood-avenger  of  His  people.*  No  money 
payment  could  be  taken  for  murder,  or  even  for  homicide:  to  compound 
such  a  felony  made  the  land  unclean  before  God.^  Innocent  blood,  in 
the  opinion  of  the  Hebrews,  as  of  the  Arabs  now,  cries  from  the  ground 
to  God  for  revenge.*  Even  the  altar,  inviolable  for  any  other  crime, 
could  give  the  murderer  no  protection.'' 

It  was  manifestly  wrong,  however,  to  put  deliberate  and  accidental 
homicide  on  the  same  footing,  and  hence  means  of  escape  were  pro- 
vided for  those  guilty  of  only  the  unintentional  offence.  Six  free  towns 
wt  .e  provided  to  which  the  man-slayer  might  flee  and  find  a  sanctuary, 
if  he  proved  before  the  elders  his  innocence  of  guilty  purpose;  the 
death  of  the  high  priest,  finally,  giving  him  leave  to  return  home  with- 
out danger.  But  even  in  the  case  of  designed  murder,  the  Law  of 
Moses  humanely  limited  revenge  to  the  actual  person  of  the  murderer,® 
forbidding  the  fierce  abuses  prevalent  among  races  like  the  Arabs.  It 
was  enacted,  moreover,  that  the  murderer  should  be  publicly  tried,  and 
that  the  testimony  of  at  least  two  witnesses  should  be  necessanr  to  his 
condemnation ;®  so  that  the  blood-revenge  sanctioned  by  the  Bible  only 
amounted  to  an  obligation  on  the  family  of  the  murdered  person  to 
prosecute  the  murderer. 

The  public  offices  in  Gaza  are  built  of  stone,  but  are  old,  and  in  verv 

f)oor  condition.    A  detached  small  stone  building  in  the  yard,  with 
ittle  windows  closely  barred,  and,  of  course,  with  no  glass,  and  two 

1  2  Sam.  iii.  27.  2  2  Sam.  xlr.  11.  3  Lev.  xx}v.  17.  4Ps.lz.12.  See  Geo.  Ix.  6t  xlil.  22{  Bcek. 
xxxlii.  6.  5  Num.  xzxT.  88.  6  Oen.  iv.  10 :  Isa.  xxvi.  21 ;  Ezelc  xxiv. 7:  Job  Xfl  18.  7  Bz.  xxL  14: 
iKing8U.2B.  8  Oeot. zxiv. ISt  S Kings ^T. 0.  9Num.sxxT.U^80|DMit.stt;il. 


SAP. 

the 
has 
lop- 
s  to 
not 
been 
of  a 
by  of 
next 
legi- 
clson 
r  the 
dthe 
lotbe 
y  the 
ideed, 
8  but 
being 
it  God 
money 
pound 
3od,  in 
ground 
crime, 

dental 

re  pro- 
towns 

etuary, 

„,  the    , 

lewith- 
iw  of 
lerei,* 

lbs.  It 
led,  and 
to  his 
lie  only 
irsonto 

in  very 

with 

liud  two 

,  22t  Ktek- 


vnij 


GAZA. 


109 


dark  and  terrible  stone  arches  in  the  passage  to  the  street,  was  the 
goal — a  fearful  place  in  such  a  climate  for  prisoners  heavily  ironed.  A 
huge  convent,  formerly  connected  with  tlie  great  church,  which  is  now 
used  as  a  mosque,  serves  as  a  khan  or  caravanserai ;  its  open  court, 
oft'ering  room  for  the  beasts;  the  lower  chambere,  along  the  sides  of  the 
open  space,  serving  as  store-rooms  for  the  loads  of  the  asses  or  camels ; 
and  its  upper  rooms,  quite  empty,  supplying  shelter  for  the  traders, 
tnerchants,  or  wayfarers  who  may  need  it.  A  man  ii[i  charge  of  the 
whole  receives  a  slight  gratuity  from  everyone  for  his  trouble,  but  there 
is  no  provision  for  either  man  or  beast  beyond  a  well  in  the  centre  of 
the  court.  It  was  to  such  an  "inn"  that  the  good  Samaritan  carried 
tiie  man  who  had  fallen  among  thieves ;  the  tw^o  pence  he  gave  the 
host  to  buy  food  for  the  unfortunate  creature  being  the  amount  fixed 
by  the  Emperor  Augustus  as  the  monthly  allowance  to  be  paid  to  each 
poor  citizen  of  Kome  for  flour.  Such  also  was  the  "habitation"  of 
Ohimham,^  by  Bethlehem,  where  Jeremiah  rested  before  being  taken 
aw%y  to  Egypt.  The  word  translated  "inn"  in  St.  Luke,  as  the  place 
in  which  the  mother  of  our  Lord  could  not  find  shelter,  was  not,  how- 
ever, as  I  have  explained,  elsewhere,*  a  khan,  but  a  private  dwelling, 
so  full  of  guests  at  the  time  that  hospitality  could  not  be  shown  to 
Mary  and  her  husband. 

On  the  east  of  the  town  a  marble  pillar,  lying  half  buried,  across  the 
road,  is  shown  as  the  traditional  site  of  the  city  gate  carried  oflt'by 
Samson,  and  near  it  is  a  small  modern  domed  tomb,  which  is  said  to 
be  his  last  resting-place,  but  in  both  cases  faith  or  disbelief  must 
remain  free  to  everyone. 

The  luxuriance  of  the  gardens  and  orchards  of  Gaza  is  due  to  the 
abundance  of  water,  drawn  from  a  great  many  wells,  some  of  them  not 
less  than  150  feet  deep.  Good  water  is,  indeed,  plentiful  at  greater  or 
less  depth  over  all  the  district,  even  on  the  sea-shore,  though  the  fre- 
quency of  rubble  cisterns  to  the  south  and  east  shows  that  in  ancient 
times  the  inhabitants  depended  largely  on  artificial  supply.  The  chief 
manufacture  of  Gaza  is  soap,  which  is  carried  over  the  desert  to  Cairo 
on  the  south,  and  to  Joppa  on  the  north.  Black  pottery  is  also  made, 
and  a  good  deal  of  courge  material  for  abbas  is  woven.  It  is  curious 
to  see  the  weavers  in  their  small,  win^dowless  workshops — the  only 
light  coming  from  the  open  front — plying  the  shuttle  in  a  loom  as 
primitive  as  it  could  well  liave  been  3,000  years  ago,  when  the 
weaver's  beam  was  made  the  comparison  for  the  ponderous  shaft  of 
Goliath's  lance.^  It  is  interesting  to  try  and  realise,  from  the  sights 
of  a  town  like  Gaza,  the  everyday  life  of  ancient  Israel.  The  Hebrews 
had  trades  of  many  kinds  among  them,  perhaps  rudely  enough  carried 
out  in  many  cases.    In  Jerusalem,  and  other  towns  of  Bible  times  one 

1  J9X,  xli,  17.  2  Geikie,  Lift  and  Wordiqf  Chrut,  i.  113.  3  1  Sam.  xvli.  7. 


110 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


[Ohaf. 


might  have  seen  men  at  work,  just  as  now  iy  Gaza,  or  Joppa,  or 
Damascus — making  or  sharpening  ploughshares  and  all  agricultural 
implements ;  'armourers  fashioning  swords  and  spear-heads ;  ^  copper- 
smiths beating  out  water-jugs,  trays,  and  basins  ;2  and  brassfounders 
skilful  in  all  kinds  of  artistic  work.*  Goldsmiths  and  silversmiths 
plied  their  delicate  arts,  doubtless  in  open  booths,  as  in  Damascus  nt 
present,*  making,  as  ordered,  either  an  idol,  or  teraphim,  in  dark  times, 
or  a  signet  ring  like  that  of  Judah,  which  he  gave  in  pledge  to 
Tamar,*  or  purifying  metal  from  alloy.®  You  could  have  bought  a 
bright  metal  mirror,  or  a  brass  pot,  or  a  censer,'  or  gold  earrings  or 
bracelets,^  or  a  lordly  dish  of  copper,  like  that  of  Jael.^  If  you  had 
had  precious  stones,  •  or  corals,  or  pearls,  you  could  have  got  them 
mounted  in  what  settings  and  chasings  you  liked.^'^  The  ruby,  the 
topaz,  the  sapphire,  and  other  stones  of  price  were  to  be  had  from  the 
merchant.  Tliey  could  solder  or  polish,  tinker,  overlay  with  gold, 
silver,  or  copper.^^  In  the  open  booths  where  the  craftsmen  were  at 
work  you  could  have  seen  the  anvil,  hammers,  tongs,  chisels,  bellow€, 
crucibles,  and  small  fumaces.^^ 

Stone-cutting  and  masonry  ma}'^  have  been  learned  by  the  Hebrews 
in  Egypt;  perhaps  with  additional  hints  from  the  Phoenicians  after  set- 
tling in  Canaan.^^  Workers  in  wood,  ready  to  turn  their  hand  to  any 
order,  whether  as  carpenters,  cabinet-makers,  or  wood-carvers,  were 
numerou8,^*and  there  where  also  wheelwrights  and  basket-makers.^®  A 
.  spectator  watching  them  would  have  seen  that  they  plied  the  axe  and 
hatchet,  the  gouge,  the  compasses,  the  saw,  the  plumb-line,  and  the 
level,  and  used  red  chalk  for  marking.^®  The  trades  of  masons  and 
plasterers  were  apparently  united.*'  Brickmakers,  as  we  find  in  Egypt, 
Babylonia,  and  Assyria,  mixed  their  mortar  with  chopped  straw — that 
is,  "  teben  " — whether  for  burned  bricks  or  for  those  simply  dried  in 
the  sun.*®  The  Hebrew  potter,  sitting  at  his  work,  turned  the  clay, 
which  had  first  been  kneeded  with  the  feet,  into  all  kinds  of  vessels 
on  his  wheel,  which  was  generally  of  wood.*'*  He  could  also,  prob- 
ably, glaze  his  ware,  since  the  Egyptians  could  do  so,  though  the  art 
seems  now  to  be  lost  in  Palestine.  Tanners  are  mentioned  only  in  the 
New  Testament  ;^  but  as  the  Pentateuch  speaks  of  red  leather  of 
ram's  skin,  and  of  "  tahash,"  or  sealskin  leather,^  the  Hebrews  must 
have  had  tanners  and  curriers  among  them  from  the  first.    Shoemakers 

1 1  Sam.  xili.  19 ;  2  Kings  xxlv.  14 ;  2  Chron.  xxiv.  12.  2  2  Tim.  iv.  14.  3  2  Kings  xxv.  18 ;  1  Kings 
vil.  14.  4  Judg.  XTii.  4,  5;  Isa.  xl.  19;  xli.  7;  Jer.  x.  14.  6  Gen.  xxxviii.  18.  6  Mai.  Hi.  2.  7  Lev. 
Ti.28;Num.xvi.89.  8  Gen.  xxiv.  30.  9  Judg.  v.  25.  10  Ex.xxviU.11,17:  Jobxxviii.16-19.  11  Isa. 
xli.  7;  1  Kings  vil.  45;  Num.  xvii.  4;  Isa.  xliv.  12;  Jer.  x.  4;  Ex.  xxv.  ll,  13;  1  Kings  vi.  20  ff.;  2 
Clirou.  iii.  fi ;  Isa.  xl.  19.  12  Isa.  xli.  7 ;  xliv.  12 ;  vl.  6 ;  Ezek.  xxii.  18 ;  Ecclus.  xxxviiL  28 :  Ex.  xxxii. 
4:  Jer.  vi.  29;  Prov.  xvii.  3.  18  Ex.  xxxviii.  11  fl.  14  2  Sam.  v.  11;  Isa.  xliv.  18;  Matt.  xili.  65;  Mark 
vi.  8 :  Ex.  XXXV.  86 ;  xxv.  10  fl. ;  xxxvii.  1, 10, 15, 25.  15  Num.  vl.  16  ff . ;  Ueut.  xxyi.  2, 4 ;  Judg.  vl.  19. 
16  Isa.  xliv.  IS ;  z.  15 ;  xxviii.  17 ;  2  Kings  xxi.  13.  17 1  Chron.  xlv.  1 ;  2  Kings  xil.  12 ;  Ezek.  xili.  11 ; 
Isa.  xxvill.  17;  1  Kings  vil.  9.  18  Ex.  v.  7;  Gen.  xl.  8:  Nab.  Hi.  14;  2  ^m.  xil.  81 ;  Jer.  xlill.  9. 
19  1  Chron. iv. 23:  Isa.  xxix.  16 ;  xlv.  9 ;  Ixiv.  8 ;  Dan.  11, 41 :  Ps.  xclv. 9:  Job.  x. 9 ;  Matt,  xzxvll. 7 
10;  Isa.xU.25;  Jer.zvU1.8;£oolus.zzxvUI.29.    20AotiU.48;  x.6,a2.   21  Bx.xxT.6;  xxxvLUi 


in 


le 
lof 
ist 
irs 


M. 
[19. 

Ill; 

1.9. 

ii.7 

Il4 


vin.i 


OAZA. 


Ill 


and  tailors  are  mentioned  only  in  the  Talmud,  sinoe  in  Bible  times 
clothing  of  all  kinds  seems  to  have  been  made  by  women.^ 

Weaving  and  spinning,  whether  for  household  use  or  for  sale,  were 
also  left  for  the  most  part  to  the  women,^  though  we  find  that  men  as 
well  "  wrought  fine  linen."*     Flax  was  hackled  with  wooden  combs ; 
its  ooarser  fibres  made  into  nets  and  snares ;  its  finer  woven  into  yarn 
on  the  spindle,  and  this,  when  wound  on  reels,  was  woven  on  the  loom 
with  the  shuttled     A  coarse  stufi',  known  as  "  sak,"  was  made  of 
camels'  and  goats'  hair  into  mourning-robes,  girdles,  and  tent-covers ; 
the  black  hair  of  he-goats  being  mostly  used,  as  is  still  the  case  with 
•the  Bedouins.*^     The  making  of  cloth  for  tent-covers  was,  indeed,  a 
special  trade  followed  by  many,  and,  among  others,  by  the  Apostle 
Paul.®     But  besides  these  rouglier  manufactures,  there  were  then,  as 
now,  in  these  strange-looking  towns  of  Palestine,  many  others  of  a 
higher  class.    In  the  days  of  Amos  rich  men  lay  on  couches  of 
damask;^    the  clothing  of  the  daughter  of  Tyre,  married  to  the 
Israelitish  king,  w^is  inwrought  with  threads  of  gold ;  *  and  curtains 
and  hangings  of  mingled  blue  and  purple  and  crimson,  with  inwoven 
figures  or  dioice  designs,  were  to  be  had  for  mansions  or  palaces,  as 
well  as  for  the  Temple,  while  embroidered  robes  were  common  among 
the  rich  few.®   Fullers  buisied  themselves  with  dressing  new  webs,  and 
cleansing   old  garments,^®  using  natron,  lye,  wood-ashes,  and  fuller's 
earth    in   their  trade,^^  which   was  carried    on    outside    towns,    on 
account  of  its  malodorous  characteristics.^^    Women,  and  also  men, 
prepared  fragrant  salves,  by  mixing  olive  oil  with  various  perfumes.^* 
Bakers  are  first  mentioned  by  Hosea.,  the  old  practice  of  bread-baking 
for  each  household  by  the  women  having,  in  a  measure,  fallen  into 
disuse,  so  that  there  came  to  be  a  street  of  bakers  in  Jerusalem.  100 
years  later,  when  Jeremiah  was  alive.^*    Barbers  make  their  first 
appearance  during  the  Captivity,!^  but  became  numerous  after  that 
time,  the  rich  having  barbers  in  their  households.    Strange  to  say, 
dyers  are  not  mentioned  in  the  Bible,  nor  are  glaziers,  though  the 
Jews  were  acquainted  with  glass  through  the  Phoenicians,  and  perhaps 
through  the  Ej^ptians. 

As  in  the  East  now,  to  work  at  a  trade  was  no  dishonor,  though 
some  crafts  were  in  disfavor,  and  even  disqualified  men  for  certain 
positions.  The  dignity  of  high  priest,  for  example,  according  to  the 
Talmud,  could  not  be  granted  to  a  weaver,  a  fuller,  a  slave-maker,  a 
tanner,  or  a  barber. 

1 1  Sam.  li.  19;  Prov.  xxxi.  19  S.;  Acts  iz.  39.  2  Isa.  xix.  9;  Ezek.  xxvli.  7 ;  Prov.  vii.  16;  Ex. 
zxxv.  25;  ProT.  xxxl.  18, 19,  24;  1  S»ni.  li.  19;  2  Kiiiga  xxiii.  7.  8  2  Chion.  ii.  14 ;  ill.  14.  4  Isa. 
xix.  9;  Judg.  zv.  13;  xvi.  14;  Prov.  xxxi.  19;  Eccles.  iv.  12;  1  Sam.  xvii.7;  2  Sam.  xxi.  19;  Job 
vii.  6.  5  2  Sam.  ill.  81 ;  Matt.  ill.  4 ;  Isa.  ill.  24 ;  Ex.  xxvi.  7 :  Cant.  1. 5.  6  Acts  xviil.  8.  7  Amos  ill. 
~ ""        " ~         d.l,31,r 


2.    18* Bz.  zzz.  25J  8S;  Sam.  Viii.  iS;  Eccles.  z.  1 ;  Neh.  UL  8;  Ecdus.  zzxTiii.  i,  8.  14  Hos.  viL  4*; 
Jer.zzzvU.21.   15BMk.T.l. 


MMH 


112 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


[Chap. 


The  grinding  at  the  mill,  assigned  to  Samson  as  his  work  in  Gaza, 
must  have  been  galling  in  the  extreme  to  such  a  Hercules,  since  it  was 
the  work  usually  leff  to  women,  though,  as  I  have  said,  I  saw  one  man 
at  Joppa  sitting  in.  the  street  turning  a  handmill.  The  blinded  hero, 
however,  may  have  been  set  to  turn  a  millstone  of  the  larger  size,  too 
heavy  for  men,  and  commonly  turned  by  an  ass ;  the  strength  once 
used  so  nobly  being  thus  contemptuously  degraded. 

The  women  sit  or  kneel  in  grinding,  and  their  mills  are  still,  doubt- 
less, the  same  as  those  used  in  the  Bible  times.  Two  stones,  about 
eighteen  inches  or  two  feet  across,  rest  one  on  the  other,  the  under  one 
slightly  higher  towards  the  centre,  and  the  upper  one  hollowed  out  to 
fit  this  convexity ;  a  hole  through  it,  in  the  middle,  receiving  the 
grain.  Sometimes  the  under  stone  is  bedded  in  cement,  raised  into  a 
border  round  it,  to  catch  and  retain  the  flour  or  meal  as  it  falls.  A 
stick  fastened  into  the  upper  one  served  as  a  handle.  Occasionally 
two  women  sit  at  the  same  pair  of  stones,^  to  lighten  the  task,  one 
hand  only  being  needed  where  two  work  together,  whereas  a  single 
person  needs  to  use  both  hands.  It  was,  and  continues  to  be,  the  same 
in  Egypt:  "the  maid-servant  that  is  behind  the  mill  "may  yet  be 
seen  in  any  village  on  the  Nile,  just  as  her  predecessors  were  before 
the  Exodus.2  The  revolution  of  the  stones  makes  a  rough  grating 
sound,  but  it  is  a  sign  of  life  and  plenty,  and  as  such  is  pleasant  to 
hear.  It  has,  for  this  reason,  been  immemorially  a  famili.'  „  symbol  of 
all  that  is  most  joyous  in  the  remembrance  of  home;  its  absence  mark- 
ing desolation  and  sorrow.  Hence  Jeremiah,  when  painting  the  ruin 
to  be  brought  on  the  land  by  the  Chaldseans,  tells  his  people  that  Jeho- 
vah will  take  from  them  the  voice  of  mirth  and  the  voice  of  gladness, 
the  voice  of  the  bridegroom  and  the  voice  of  the  bride,  the  sound  of 
the  millstones,  and  the  light  of  the  lamp.*  Hence  also  "  The 
Preacher  "  gives  it  as  one  mark  of  old  age  that  the  teeth  fail,  because 
they  are  few — taking  the  figure  from  women  at  the  mill,  so  that  tie 
passage  would  read  literally,  "The  women  who  have  ground  the  menl 
slacken  in  their  labor,  because  they  are  few,"  "  and  the  sound  of  the 
grinding  is  low."  *  The  utter  destruction  of  the  mystic  Babylon  is 
impressed  on  the  mind  by  St.  John  in  the  statement  that,  "the  sound 
of  a  millstone  shall  be  heard  no  more  at  all  "  in  it.^  No  creditor  was 
allowed  to  take  a  uiillstone  in  pledge,  since  doing  so  would  mean  the 
wretchedness  of  a  household:  a  lesson  to  our  law-givers  at  this  time. 
Some  millstones,  of  a  much  larger  size  than  those  turned  by  hand,  are 
driven  by  an  ass,  as  already  noticed,  and  it  is  to  one  of  these  that  our 
Lord  refers  when  He  says  that  it  were  better  that  a  millstone  were 
hanged  about  the  neck  of  him  who  offends  one  of  His  little  ones,  and 
tli.it  he  were  drowned  in  the  depth  of  the  sea.* 

1  Matt.  xxiv.  41 ;  Luke  xvii.  35.    2  Ex.  xi.  5.    3  Jer.  xxv.  10.    4  Eccles.  xii.  8, 4.    Dr.  W.  Nowack, 
J)er  Pndiger.   5  Rev.  xviii.  21.   6  Matt,  xviii.  6 ;  Mark  ix.  42 ;  Luke  xvU.  1,2. 


[CHAP. 

Gaza, 
it  was 
enian 
hero, 
se,  loo 
1  onoe 

doubt- 
about 

ler  one 

out  to 

[ig  the 
into  a 

[Is.    A 

ionally 

sk,  one 

I  single 

le  same 
yet  be 

3  before 

grating 

isant  to 

mbol  of 
mark- 

,he  ruin 
tt  Jeho- 

[ladness, 

iound  of 
"  The 

[because 
hat  tie 
le  inoiil 
of  the 
jylon  is 
e  sound 
[tor  was 
lean  tlie 
lis  tinu'. 
ind,  are 
that  our 
le  were 
les,  and 

Nowack, 


vni.i 


OAZA. 


113 


The  cemetery  of  Gaza  stretches  over  a  wide  space  on  the  south  of 
the  town ;  the  graves  generally  covered  by  a  small  erection  of  mud- 
brick,  plastered  over  and  whitewashed.  As,  however,  there  is  no 
fence,  and  man  and  beast  take  any  liberties  they  like  with  the  open 
space  sown  with  the  dead,  its  condition,  like  that  of  all  Eastern  ceme- 
teries, is  pitiable  in  the  extreme.  Yet,  for  a  time,  care  of  a  grave  is 
not  neglected  by  the  relatives  of  the  departed.  Every  Friday  men, 
women,  and  children  come  to  the  cemetery  for  their  outing,  which  is 
celebrated  near  the  resting-place  of  those  once  dear  to  them,  whom 
they  thus  call  to  remembrance  amidst  what  is,  to  them,  holiday  enjoy- 
ment. It  is  very  common,  also,  to  see  women  veiled  in  white  from 
head  to  feet  sitting  on  the  ground  beside  a  grave,  having  gone,  like 
Martha  and  Mary,  "  to  the  grave,  to  weep  there."  ^  Funerals  are  mel- 
ancholy scenes  in  the  East.  I  have  watched  them  frequently.  First 
come  the  women  of  the  family  and  female  neighbors,  draped  entirely 
in  white,  often  tossing  their  arms,  tlirowing  about  their  handkerchiefs, 
and  screaming  aloud  in  lament  for  the  departed.  In  Egypt,  and  to 
some  extent  also  in  Palestine,  hired  mourners,  whose  calling  it  is  to 
"  make  an  ado  and  weep,"'^  for  so  much  an  hour,  swell  the  noise,  for  it 
is  a  great  ambition  with  Orientals  to  have  an  imposing  display  at  a 
funeral;  "a  better  funeral,"  as  they  say,  "than  their  neighbors  could 
afford."  Wailing  women  are  an  old  institution  in  the  Holy  Land. 
We  find  "  the  mourners  going  about  the  streets "  when  Ecclesiastes 
was  written.^  Public  demonstrations  of  grief  are  natural  to  Orientals, 
and  have  been  so  from  the  earliest  ages.  All  Israel  "  mourned,"  that 
is,  smote  their  breasts  and  wailed  aloud,  for  the  death  of  the  son  of 
Jeroboam ;  *  and,  ages  before,  Abraham  came  to  Hebron  to  "  mourn 
for  Sarah,  and  to  weep  [or  wail]  for  her."^  "Eend  your  clothes, 
and  gird  you  with  sackcloth,  and  mourn  [that  is,  lift  tne  loud  wail] 
before  Abner,"  said  David  to  Joab,  he  himself  following  the  bier, 
lamenting.^  After  the  death  of  Josiah,  at  Megiddo,  the  wailing  was 
so  grievous  through  all  Israel  that  the  prophet  in  later  days  could  find 
no  better  .parallel  for  the  future  mourning  in  Jerusalem  over  Him 
"  whom  they  have  pierced." '  Nor  were  even  wailing  and  rending  the 
clothes,  or  wearing  sackcloth,  the  only  expressions  of  grief  at  the  death 
of  loved  ones.  Notwithstanding  the  prohibition  of  the  law,*  men  cut 
themselves,  in  the  time  of  Jeremiah,  with  knives,  and  shaved  the  front 
of  their  heads,  to  honor  the  departed.®  But  this  is  not  done  now. 
The  violence  of  the  wailing  may  be  imagined  from  the  words  used  in 
Scripture :  "  The  mourners  [that  is,  the  women]  howled,"  says  Jere- 
miah.^® Their  wailing  was  like  "the  shrieks  and  yells  of  jackals," 
says  Mioah,^*  "  and  they  smote  on  their  breasts  with  voices,  sad  as  that 

lJohnxi.81.   2  Mark  V.  39.   3  Eccles,  xii.  6.  ^4  1  Kings  xiv.  13..  5  Oen.  xxiil.  2.   6  2  Sam.  Hi.  31. 

n. 


7  Zech.  xH.  10, 11.   8  Lev.  xix.  28;  Deut.  xlv.  1 
8 


0  Jer.  x^.  6.   10  Jer.  iv.  8.   11  Mic.  i.  8. 


114 


THE   llOLV    liANl)  ANli  THE   BIBLE. 


[Chap. 


1) 


of  tlie  dove,"  *  as  our  EnclisU  people  did  at  the  news  of  the  death  of 
the  Blaok  Prince,  when  they  beat  their  heads  against  the  pillars  of 
Canterbury  Cathedral,  and  lifted  up  their  voices  in  loud  lamenting, 
with  all  the  outward  manifestations  of  sorrow  once  familiar  to  the 
Hebrews.  The  hired  women  of  to-day,  as  they  gather  at  the  house  of 
the  dead,  shriek  out  every  endearing  expression  to  stimulate  the  sor- 
row of  those  around,  just  as  they  did  of  old:  "  Ah,  my  brother  1 " 
"  Ah,  sister  1 "  "  Ah,  lord !  "  or,  "  Ah,  his  glory  1 "  « 

Men  and  boys  come  after  the  women,  often  carrying  flags,  and 
chanting,  "  No  God  but  God,  and  Mahomet  is  His  prophet,"  repeating 
this  over  and  over  as  they  advance;  the  numbers  following  the  open 
bier  being  large  in  proportion  to  the  respect  felt  for  its  pale  occupant. 
Just  such  a  procession  met  our  Lord  as  it  passed  through  the  gate  of 
Nain,  the  widowed  mother  going  before,  and  "  much  people  of  the 
city  "  following  the  remains  of  her  only  son.* 

On  arrival  at  the  grave,  a  scene  very  strange  to  Western  eyes  takes 
place,  the  celebration  of  a  "zikr,"  or  memorial  service,  which  is 
repeated,  at  stated  intervals,  at  the  graves  of  those  long  dead,  if  they 
have  left  a  reputation  for  holiness.  I  saw  one  held  at  the  tomb  of  a 
local  saint  at  Gaza.  A  circle  was  formed  round  the  grave  by  the  men 
present,  without  respect  to  their  social  position ;  a  poor  beggar  taking 
part  on  the  same  footing  as  a  rich  trader.  About  forty  men,  who  had 
come  to  the  spot  with  a  flag  and  a  drum,  stood  in  the  ring;  Arabs, 
j el,  black  Nubians,  peasants ;  most  of  them  in  turbans  of  gi'een,  red, 
white,  or  yellow,  or  striped;  some  with  fezzes;  one  with  the  Arab 
"  kefiyeh,"  or  head-shawl ;  their  clothing  as  vividly  contrasted  as  their 
head-dresses  in  shape,  color,  and  material;  one  wearing  the  sheepskin 
coat  of  a  shepherd,  with  the  wool  inside.  A  leader  broke  the  prelim- 
inary silence  by  beginning  to  chant  in  a  sing-song  voice  from  the 
Koran,  after  which  the  whole  body  of  men  broke  out  into  a  repetition 
of  the  name  of  God,  crying,  "  Allah,  Allah,  Allah,"  as  quickly  as  it 
could  be  uttered,  for  quite  a  long  time;  their  bodies,  meanwhile, 
swaying  up  and  down,  in  what  was  doubtless  intended  for  bowing  in 
reverence ;  each  holding  his  neighbor's  hand.  Groans  followed,  volley 
after  volley,  and  then  the  swaying,  mingled  with  loud  grunts,  began 
once  more.  Presently  all  broke  out  into  a  chant  praising  God,  and 
celebrating  the  glory  of  the  dead.  Clapping  of  hands  followed,  and 
more  chanting  of  tne  Koran,  more  violent  bowing,  groaning,  and 
grunting,  till  everyone  must  have  been  thoroughly  tired.  The  whole 
ceremony  lasted  about  half  an  hour,  and  at  its  close  the  procession, 
which  consisted  wholly  of  men,  formed  behind  the  flag  and  drum  and 
marched  back  to  the  town,  to  the  beat  of  the  monotonous  music.  The 
name  given  to  this  act  of  Divine  worship,  for  suoh  it  is,  is,  as  I  have 
1  Nab.  U.  7.  2  Jer.  izU.  18;  xzsiv.  6.  8  Luke  vU.  U. 


CBAP. 


VIII.] 


OAZA. 


116 


thof 

MS  of 

uting, 
;o  the 
use  of 
e  sor- 
herl" 

8,  and 
mating 
e  open 
jupant.^ 
gate  of 
of  the 

)s  takes 
hich  is 
if  tl»ey 
mb  of  a 
tbe  men 
r  taking 
yho  had 
Arabs, 
jen,  red, 
[he  Arab 
as  their 
leepskin 
prelim- 
iTom  the 
jpetition 
[kly  as  it 
lanwhile, 
owing  in 
|d,  volley 
IB,  began 
Bod,  and 
|wed,  and 
ling,  and 
le  whole 
•ooession, 
Irum  and 
»c.    The 
I  have 


said,  "  zikr,"  a  word  closely  connected  with  the  Hebrew  word  for  "  a 
memorial"  or  "remembrance;"  indeed,  one  may  say,  identical  with 
it.  The  Psalmist  uses  it  when  he  exhorts  tite  righteous  to  "give 
tlianks  at  the  remembrance  of  His  holiness."  ^ 

It  is  a  pity  to  have  to  think  of  the  wailing  at  death  or  at  funerals 
as  insincere,  but  how  can  that  of  hired  women  be  anything  else?  The 
custom  is  falling  into  disfavor,  partly  on  this  account,  and  partly  from 
its  expense,  but  also  from  the  unnatural  constraint  imposed  by  the 
rule  that  wailing  shall  be  renewed  at  stated  intervals  in  each  week, 
for  forty  days.*  The  trr  mourners  have  as  real  sorrow  as  those  of 
any  other  land,  and  many  of  the  white-sheeted  forms  that  go  to  the 
grave  to  weep,  or  do  so  in  their  homes,  are  those  of  broken-hearted 
mothers,  sisters,  or  wives.  But  to  weep,  shriek,  beat  the  brenst,  and 
tear  the  hair  at  so  much  an  hour,  is  sorrow  as  artificial  as  thnt  of  our 
undertakers.  Professional  mourners  are  employed  simply  in  obedience 
to  the  tyranny  of  custonn,  and  to  stimulate  the  real  grief  of  others. 
"  Consider  ye  and  call  for  the  mourning  women,"  says  Jeremiah,  "that 
they  may  come;  send  for  the  cunning  women  [skilful  in  lamenting] 
that  they  may  come;  and  let  them  make  haste  and  take  up  a  wailing 
for  us,  that  our  eyes  may  run  down  with  tears,  and  our  eyelids  gush 
oat  with  waters." 3  Even  the  funeral  processions  of  Mahommedans 
are  far  from  being  as  decorous  as  those  of  Christians.  The  bier,  on 
which  the  body  lies  dressed  in  its  best  clothes,  is  followed  rather  by  a 
straggling  and  motley  crowd  than  by  mourners,  for  they  talk  and 
laugh  in  the  most  indiflferent  way  as  they  go  to  the  grave,  where  the 
"  zikr,"  as  I  have  described  it,  takes  place,  the  women  lamenting,  and 
the  men  repeating  with  incredible  volubility,  "  There  is  no  God  but 
God,"  &o.,  till  they  often  foam  at  the  mouth  with  their  exertions. 
When  they  are  tired,  the  body  is  laid  in  its  shallow  grave,  which  is 
quickly  filled  in,  a  few  stones  being  heaped  over  it  to  keep  oft'  jackals 
and  hyenas. 

I  made  inquiries  in  a  large  fig-orchard  at  Gaza  respecting  the  time 
of  the  ripening  of  the  fruit;  hoping  to  understand  better  than  hitherto 
the  curse  of  the  fig-tree  for  its  barrenness  when  "the  time  of  figs  was 
not  yet."*  The  gardener,  a  middle-aged  man,  very  thin  by  labor  in 
the  liiot  sun  all  his  life,  was  probably  not  unlike  those  of  ancient  times. 
He  wore  an  old  fez,  wound  round  with  a  colored  handkerchief  to  make 
it  into  a  turban  for  protection  from  the  sun.  His  arms  and  legs  were 
bare-;  his  dress  a  white  shirt,  with  a  blue  cotton  sack  over  it.  A 
steel,  for  striking  fire,  hung  at  his  side  from  a  steel  chain  attached  to  a 
belt  or  girdle  of  leather  round  his  waist.  The  earliest  figs,  it  appears, 
are  called  "dafour,"  Which  means  "ripe  before  the  time,"  and  are  ready 

1  Ps.  xcvU.  12;  seo  mIso  Pa.  oxi.  4;  exit.  6;  cxxxv.  13;  cxlv.  7;  Prov.  x.  7.    2  Gen.  1.  8.    3  Jer. 
U.17,18.  4  Mark.  xi.  13. 


I  < 


116 


THE   HOLY   LAND  AND  THE   BIBLK. 


[Chap. 


at  Gaza  about  tlie  end  of  Marcli,  before  tlie  leaves  are  well  out.  Our 
Lord  had  a  right,  then,  to  expect  that  a  tree  rich  in  leaves  should  have 
had  some  tigs  oa  it  by  the  middle  of  A})ril,  when  He  whs  j)assing,  and 
the  I'act  that  there  were  none  ottered  ii  striking  text  for  a  lesson  on  the 
wortidessness  of  profession  without  performance.     It  sometimes  hap- 

f)ens  that  in  autumn — that  is  about  ()ctober — some  figs  put  out  fresh 
eaves,  and  these  are  followed,  it  may  be,  by  new  Hgs.  But  the  win- 
ter checks  the  ripening  of  such  untimely  growths,  where  it  does  not 
make  them  fall;  the  few  still  clinging  to  the  branches  till  spring  never 
becoming  fit  to  fat.  To  show  what  he  meant,  the  gardener  forthwith 
pulled  some  of  this  kind,  but  they  were  withered  and  worthless. 

It  was  on  the  2nd  of  March,  in  the  opening  of  spring,  that  1  visited 
the  garden.  Fig-leaves  were  coming  out  on  some  trees;  not,  as  yet, 
on  others.  Large  beds  of  onions  were  standing  a  foot  high,  but  they 
were  thin  in  the  stalk.  Lettuce  was  large,  and  in  great  abundance ; 
it  is  often,  with  bread,  the  only  food  of  laborers.  Tomato-plants  were 
set  out  between  the  rows  of  lettuce;  marrows  were  coming  up,  and 
v'  .88  were  leafing,  with  rows  of  tomatoes  between  them  also.  The 
pomegranate  was  bursting  out;  beans  were  about  nine  inches  high; 
garlic,  somewhat  shorter.  A  patch  of  tobacco,  for  the  future  personal 
use  of  the  gardener,  had  just  shown  itself  above  the  ground;  and  there 
was  a  small  bed  of  parsley.  The  garden  did  not  need  watering,  I  was 
told;  the  rainfall  and  the  night  mists  were  sufficient.  Indeed,  irriga- 
tion is  little  practised  in  Palestine,  except  in  gardens  around  towns. 
On  the  plain  of  Sharon,  for  example,  there  is  ncr.c  for  the  fields,  which 
yet  give  excellent  crops. 

The  "abbas"  of  the  men  amused  me.  They  are  nade  of  coarser  or 
finer  camels'-hair  cloth,  and  are  as  nearly  square  as  the  human  figure 
will  allow;  three  holes  being  left  for  the  head  and  arms,  and  short 
sleeves  being  generally  added.  The  garment  is  open  in  front,  to  wrap 
tightly  or  wear  loosely,  as  the  owner  thinks  fit.  In  Gaza  the  women, 
besides  the  blue  or  white  covering  over  their  heads,  wear  an  Egyptian 
veil:  a  thing  made  of  cotton  cloth,  like  a  gigantic  moustache,  but 
hung  over  the  nose,  and  sweeping  down  on  each  side  to  the  bottom  of 
the  jaw3,  with  a  row  of  coins  at  the  lower  side  for  ornament;  the  rest 
of  the  face  being  left  exposed.  The  "  izar,"  or  white  cloak,  worn  by 
not  a  few  of  the  fair  sex,  covers  the  person  from  head  to  foot.  It  was 
strange  to  hear  that  among  the  families  in  Gaza  one  was  known  as 
"  European."  Its  members  were,  in  fact,  descendants  of  some  Crusader 
who  had  remained  in  Palestine  and  married  a  native  woman;  his  pos- 
terity still  bearing  the  name  of  Frangi,  or  Franks.  There  are  many 
such  households  in  the  Holy  Land. 

The  heads  of  the  children  were  a  constant  amusement,  for  in  Gaza, 
afi  in  Egypt  and  elsewhere,  tbey  are  shaved  in  the  most  fanciful  way. 


[Chap. 


Our 

1  have 
g,  and 
on  the 
!S  hap- 
t  fresh 
le  win- 
jes  not 
5  never 
thvvitli 

visited 
as  yet, 
ut  they 
idance ; 
ts  were 
up,  and 
).  The 
;8  high ; 
aersonal 
id  there 


g' 


I  was 
irriga- 
towns. 
which 


•arser  or 
n  figure 
ad  short 
to  wrap 
women, 
gyptian 
che,  but 
)ttom  of 
the  rest 
worn  by 
It  was 
nown  as 
Zrusader 
his  pos- 
re  many 


lin 


Gaza, 
il  way. 


VIU.] 


GAZA. 


117 


One  gloried  in  a  tu(l  on  the  very  to))  of  tlio  hUuII  ;  another,  in  a  stnall 
ring  of  hair;  still  others  had  other  designs.  There  is  hIwavs,  how- 
ever, some  tufl  left  for  the  benefit  of  the  resurrection  angel,  to  facilitate 
extrication  iVom  the  grave,  or,  as  some  say,  to  helu  the  spirits  who,  as 
Moslems  believe,  raise  every  dead  man  to  his  knees,  in  his  grave, 
immediately  after  his  burial,  till  he  answers  their  questions  and  it  is 
thus  determined  where  his  soul  is  to  be  till  the  general  judgment. 
One  thing  is  efteoted  at  aiiy  rate  by  the  general  head-shaving;  there  is 
no  shelter  for  vermin.  Boys  wear  no  head -covering,  running  about 
with  their  shaved  skulls  even  in  Egypt,  but  men  protect  themselves  by 
a  turban,  to  take  the  place  of  their  hair;  for  their  liendH  are  shaved  as 
well  as  those  of  boys.     Arabs  never  shave  the  head  or  the  l)eard. 

The  mission  house  in  which  I  lived  while  nt  Gaza  ottered,  in  many 
'ways,  a  curious  example  of  the  condition  of  Palnstine.  The  stones  of 
which  it  was  built  were  from  the  ruins  of  ancient  buildings  on  the  sea- 
shore; some  marble  pillars  over  the  door  and  elsewhere  were  spoil 
from  Ascalon.  The  rafters  were  from  Cilicia,  in  Asia  Minor;  the 
pine- wood,  fVom  Norway;  the  chairs  were  Austrian;  the  dresser  was 
made  in  Gaza;  the  looks,  hinges,  glass,  and  ))aint  came  from  England; 
the  nails  and  tiles,  from  France;  the  lime,  from  the  hills  of  Judaea. 

More  than  a  third  of  the  children  in  Palestine,  I  was  told,  die  in 
infancy,  which  is  no  wonder;*  so  ignorant  are  the  people,  and  so  dirty 
and  insanitary  are  their  houses.  Ophthalmia  is  epidemic,  with  blind- 
ness as  its  frequent  result. 

Mahommedanism  allows  a  man  to  have  four  wives,  which  one  would 
think  a  liberal  allowance,  but  as  the  Prophet  was  a  polygamist  on  a 
much  larger  scale,  those  of  his  followers  who  can  afford  a  greater 
number  of  wives  feel  quite  at  liberty  to  indulge  in  a  harem.  The  cost, 
however,  limits  this  odious  practice  to  a  very  few  cases,  the  vast 
majority  of  men  being  able  to  maintain  only  one  partner.  Divorce  is 
the  general  way  for  getting  a  change.  Indeed,  it  has  become  the 
established  custom,  since  it  not  only  saves  expense  but  avoids  the  evils 
of  rivalry.  To  send  a  woman  away  is  the  easiest  thing  in  the  world; 
any  excuse  suflSces.  One  man  was  mentioned  to  me,  who  had  had 
sixteen  wives;  and  a  Gaza  woman  is,  at  present,  making  her  seven- 
teenth husband  happy.  Nor  can  it  be  said  that  people  wait  till  they 
are  old  before  visiting  the  marriage  altar;  boys  of  twelve  are  the  hus- 
bands of  girls  of  eleven.  This  strange  state  of  aff'airs  does  not,  how- 
ever, seem  to  do  permanent  injury  to  either  sex  in  this  climate,  for  old 
men  appear  to  be  as  numerous  as  elsewhere,  while  I  was  assured  by 
the  missionary  that  the  women,  when  at  their  best,  are  so  vigorous 
that  he  had  known  of  cases  where  a  matron,  going  to  market  with 

1  A  lady  traveller  In  Egypt,  moralizing  on  this  subject,  said  to  me,  "  How  sad  the  mortality 
MBong  ohfldren  is  I   I  believe  more  die  than  are  born  "  f 


118 


THE    HOLY    LAND   AND   THK   BIBLE. 


[CHAP. 


1  i\ 


>^ 


liei  eggs  or  cheese,  would  step  aside  on  the  way  to  give  birth  to  a 
cliild ;  go  on  and  sell  her  produce,  and  return  home  with  her  new 
baby. 

1  had  the  honor  of  a  return  visit  from  the  kadi  to  acknowledge  my 
attendance  at  his  court.  He  came  with  his  son,  a  boy  of  twelve, 
dressed,  excepting  the  inevitable  red  fez,  like  a  European,  and  already 
showing  his  budding  virility,  as  he  no  doubt  fancied,  by  puffing  at  a 
cigarette.  A  very  shabby  servant  followed,  as  the  only  escort  of  the 
two.  I  found  his  excellency  very  gracious.  The  missionary  had 
beaten  him  in  a  lawsuit  raised  by  t!  e  Turk  to  prevent  the  English 
from  having  a  mission  house — for  the  authorities  harass  Protestants 
in  every  way — but  the  defeat  was  ignored  for  the  time,  and  the  great- 
est affability  reigned.  The  kadi  had  kept  me  waiting  a  very  long 
time  in  his  wretched  court-house,  to  show  me  some  pieces  of  a  lead 
coffin  just  dug  up.  "Had  they  any  value  as  antiquities?"  Unfortu- 
nately there  was  no  inscription  on  the  fragments,  but  only  oriiiiments, 
including  human  heads:  a  proof  that  it  must  have  been  iis  old  as  the 
Crusading  times,  if  not  older,  as  Mahommedans  never  introduce  like- 
nesses of  either  man  or  creatures  in  their  ornamentation,  nor  such 
scrolls  of  leaves.  "  Why  was  there  no  cleansing  of  the  streets  in 
Gaza?  "  "Ah,  how  would  you  get  the  money  for  it?  Many  towns- 
men are  very  rich,  but  they  refuse  to  pay  taxes."  "  But  could  you,  as 
governor,  make  no  improvements  at  all,  to  bring  your  city  more  to 
the  front?  "  "  Ahl  no  one  can  do  anything.  1  tried  very  hard  to  get 
a  harbour  made  for  Gaza,  through  a  company  thai  was  willing  to  con- 
struct it,  but  Turks  are  jealous  of  each  other.  If  a  clever  man  rises, 
all  conspire  to  pull  him  down.  The  great  men  seek  only  their  own 
interests,  not  those  of  the  country.  I  could  do  nothing.  Things  must 
just  go  on  as  they  are,  if  I  am  not  to  ruin  myself.  To  show  any  zeal 
or  enterprise  would  do  so."  Coffee,  the  nargileh,  and  cigarettes  enliv- 
ened the  interview,  though  the  boy  felt  it  so  dull  that  he  stole  away 
downstairs  to  play  with  the  children;  the  attendant  following  his 
charge.  A  few  salaams  and  gracious  assurances  of  eternal  friendship, 
and  the  great  man  withdrew. 

On  the  south-east  of  the  town  lies  a  hill — El-Muntar — to  the  top  of 
which,  it  is  said,  Samson  carried  the  city  gates.  Riding  through  the 
great  cemetery,  which  in  some  parts  was  washed  into  gullies  by  the 
rain,  and  in  others  dug  into  great  holes  for  gravel,  the  brick  and  plas- 
ter cubes  or  half-circles  over  older  graves  fallen,  or  falling,  into  decay; 
no  fence  or  railing  anywhere;  stones,  thorns,  weeds,  rubbish,  choosing 
their  own  places  without  disturbance  from  any  one — we  reached  the 
hill  by  a  sandy  lane,  fringed  with  gardens  and  cactus- hedges.  The 
ascent  is  rather  steep  from  all  sides;  the  slopes  only  thinly  sprinkled 
with  vegetiition.     A  large  tomb  to  some  forgotten  saint  rises  on  the 


VIII.l 


GAZA. 


119 


as 


top  of 
igh  the 

by  the 
kd  plas- 

decay ; 

loosing 

led  the 
The 

[•inkled 

on  the 


summit,  where  there  is  also  a  station,  in  sickly  times,  for  a  quarantine 
watcher,  who  signals  the  approach  of  caravans  from  Egypt,  the  track 
from  which  stretches  away,  alongside  the  telegraph,  straight  to  the 
south.  The  quarantine  establishment  lay  about  a  mile  to  tiie  east, 
among  gardens:  a  stone  building  in  front,  with  a  quadrangle  inside, 
but  everywhere  falling  into  decay.  It  has  fine  water,  however;  one 
of  the  soldiers  kindly  brought  us  ajar  of  it  for  a  draught.  Standing 
apart,  the  hill  offered  a  wide  landscape  on  all  sides.  On  the  south, 
the  eye  ranged  over  the  green  uplands,  closed  in,  at  a  distance,  by  the 
low  hills  of  the  great  desert,  which  in  all  ages  has  been  so  strong  a 
protection  to  Palestine  against  invasion  from  Africa.  Yet  the  warlike 
lords  of  Egypt  and  Assyria  had  braved  it,  as  the  trade  caravans  have 
done  during  the  immemorial  past,  slowly  passing  over  its  desolate 
breadth  on  the  "ship  of  the  desert."  Along  this  southern  road  Shishak 
had  emerged  from  the  sandy  wilderness,  at  the  head  of  the  columns 
which  humbled  Rehoboam.^  The  hosts  of  Sargon,  Sennacherib, 
Esarhaddon,  Assurbanipal,  Nebuchadnezzar,  and  Cambyses  had  suc- 
cessively sounded  their  trumpet-blasts  round  the  town,  as  they  marched 
towards  the  Nile.  Alexander  the  Great  had  camped  with  his  glitter- 
ing staff  and  steel-clad  warriors  for  five  months  on  the  plains  beneath, 
before  he  could  force  an  entrance  into  Gaza  "the  Strong";  and  the 
wailing  must  have  been  loud  and  sore  when,  on  his  storming  the  city, 
all  the  men  were  slain,  and  the  women  and  children  sold  as  slaves ;  a 
new  population  from  a  distance  being  brought  to  take  their  place. 
Pharaoh-Necho  bad  smitten  Gaza  on  his  victorious  march  towards 
Carchemish,2  and  when  afterwards  overthrown  by  the  Chaldaeans  his 
troops  had  retreated  along  this  road  to  Egypt,  devastating  Philistia  as 
they  passed.  Men  had  wailed  aloud,  women  and  children  had  filled 
the  air  with  their  cries  "at  the  noise  of  the  stamping  of  the  hoofs  of 
the  war-horses,  at  the  bounding  of  the  chariots,  at  the  rumbling  of 
their  wheels" — fathers,  in  their  flight,  not  looking  back  to  save  their 
children;  and  thus  "  baldnsss,"  the  sign  of  mourning,^  "had  come  on 
Gaza."*  But  Alexander's  victory  had  been  still  more  destructive. 
Gaza  had  bought  Jewish  captives  as  slaves,  and  had  sold  them  as  such 
to  the  hated  Edomites,  and  now  fire  had  been  sent  on  its  wall  and  had 
devoured  its  palaces,  as  Amos  had  long  before  threatened.^  Destroyed 
again  and  again,  its  situation  had  always  secured  its  being  rebuilt. 
The  Jews  had  triumphed  over  it  under  David,  Hezekiah,  and  the 
Maccabees,  but  they  had  afterwards  seen  their  sons  sold  in  multitudes 
by  Hadrian  in  its  slave-marts.  The  Greeks  and  Romans  had  held  it 
in  their  time,  and  now,  for  1,400  years,  it  had  been  in  the  hands  of  the 
-^rabs  and  Turks.     A  strange  history  on  which  to  look  down  from  the 

1  1  Kings  xiv.  26.   2  Jer.  xlvU.  1.  3  Micah  i.  16.  4  Jer.  xlvii.  2—6.  6  Amos  i.  7.   See  also  Zeph. 
ll.4;ZecB.ix.6. 


120 


THE  HOLY   LAND   ANlJ   THK   MIBLE. 


[Ch> 


hill-topl  The  haughty  armies  that  had  spread  their  banners  beneath 
— where  were  they?  How  was  the  tumult  of  ages  stilled  down  I 
Infinite  pity  for  dying  man  filled  one's  heart! 

On  the  south-east  lay  the  track  to  Beersheba,  over  the  open  field  ; 
and  on  the  east  the  mountains  of  Judaea  bounded  the  view ;  low  tawny 
hills,  with  cactus-hedges  over  their  tops,  lying  close  below  El-Muntar, 
and  beyond  them  vast  stretches  of  rolling  pasture,  ploughed  land, 
wheat,  and  barley,  to  the  foot  of  the  mountain-range.  On  the  west 
spread  out  a  vast  wood  of  olive  and  fig-trees,  broken  here  and  there 
by  greeen  fields,  and  by  low,  rough  hills,  reaching  to  the  sand-dunes 
which  were  being  slowly  blown  over  the  cultivated  land.  Beyond 
these,  the  great  sea  spread  out  to  the  horizon,  its  deep  blue  contrast- 
ing in  rich  effect  with  the  yellow  sand-hills  at  its  edge.  North-west 
lay  Gaza,  on  its  long,  low  hill,  embowered  in  a  sea  of  green,  two 
minarets  rising  from  the  town  itself,  and  three  from  its  suburb,  Sejiyeh, 
the  quarter  of  the  weavers,  a  place  bearing  a  very  bad  name.  The 
sand-hills  rose  close  to  the  town  on  the  west.  Cactus-hedges  streamed 
in  all  directions,  over  height  and  hollow,  and  palms  in  numbers  waved 
high  in  the  air  among  the  gardens,  but  not  in  groves  as  in  Egypt.  On 
the  north-east  a  track  over  the  wide  common  showed  the  way  to 
Hebron. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


ASCALON. 


AdCALON  lies  on  the  sea-shore,  about  twelve  miles  north  of  Gaza. 
We  had  two  horses  already,  and  hiring  two  more,  and  a  man  as  care- 
taker, at  the  cost  of  eight  shillings  for  the  day's  service  of  the  three,  the 
commissariat  for  them  included,  we  set  off,  after  an  early  breakfast,  a 
cavalcade  of  four — the  missionary,  his  wife,  a  Levantine  who  spoke 
English,  and  myself — for  the  ruins  of  the  great  Crusading  foitress. 
You  ride  out  of  the  town  to  the  west,  through  orchards  shut  in  by 
hedges  of  prickly  pear  and  mud  walls,  the  reverse  of  picturesque. 
These,  however,  soon  end,  in  this  direction,  and  are  succeeded  by  sand- 
hills, reaching  to  the  sea  three  miles  off',  the  journey  across  them  being 
wearisome  in  the  extreme.  One  could  imagine  himself  travelling  over 
a  sand-ocean;  long  waves  of  yellow  desolation  rising  in  apparently 
endless  succession,  though  interrupted  here  and  there  by  reaches  of 
hfird  soil  quite  as  barren,    Some  of  these  looked  specially  weird,  from 


IX.] 


ASCALON. 


121 


the  vast  quantities  of  broken  pottery — handles,  mouths,  spouts,  and 
nameless  fragments  of  all  sizes  and  shapes — strewn  everywhere  over 
them,  like  the  bones  of  an  old  cemetery.  They,  doubtless,  mark  the 
sile  of  former  towns  or  villages,  yet  not  necesssrily  very  ancient  ones, 
since  the  really  old  surla'je  of  the  land  must,  for  the  most  part,  be 
buried  under  tne  sand.  How  is  it  that  such  quantities  of  potsherds 
cover  the  face  of  so  many  spots  in  Palestine  ?  Even  at  Gerar,  on  the 
way  to  Beersheba,  where  there  has  been  no  settled  community  for 
ages,  it  is  the  same.  At  Memphis,  in  Lower  Egypt,  the  ground  is 
covered  for  miles  with  a  rain  of  broken  pottery,  as  if  all  the  broken 
ware  of  the  region,  from  the  days  of  Menes,  had  come  to  the  surface. 
Their  crockery  was  no  doubt  as  precious  to  the  housewives  of  the  Land 
of  Promise,  or  of  the  Nile  valley,  as  to  the  matrons  of  other  countries, 
so  that  there  can  be  only  one  explanation  of  the  myriads  of  fragments 
.so  often  met  on  ancient  sites  in  the  East:  they  must  have  accumulated 
during  thousands  of  years,  and  the  pottery  that  yielded  such  a  harvest 
of  sherds  must  have  been  wondrously  brittle. 

That  it  is  so  at  present  anyone  who  has  tried  to  bring  home  samples 
must  have  found  by  sad  experience;  and  the  native  women  and  girls 
have  the  same  lament.  "The  pitcher  broken  at  the  fountain  "i  is  a 
constant  sorrow  to  the  poor  mothers  and  maidens ;  the  least  want  of 
care  irj  setting  even  a  large  jar  down  on  the  ground  often  sufficing  to 
shiver  it  into  a  heap  of  fragments.  Job  could  have  found  no  difficulty 
in  putting  his  hand  on  as  many  potsherds  as  he  wished,  when  sitting 
on  the  town  dust-hill,  seeking  a  rude  scraper  for  his  person,  in  his 
misery  .2 

The  stalks  of  grass  which  had  bravely  shown  themselves  for  a  time 
gradually  disappeared,  and  so  did  the  small  flowers  which  had  bor- 
dered the  lanes  at  our  starting,  yet  even  among  these  desolate  sand- 
iiills  there  were  oases  more  or  less  fertile,  whether  from  the  old  surface 
being  protected  by  the  conformation  of  the  ground,  or  as  a  triumph  of 
industry  over  the  restless  sand,  which  stubbornly  advances  with  every 
breath  of  wind.  Right  and  left  of  us,  at  a  distance,  were  open  planta- 
tions of  olives,  and  even  some  g.v.dens ;  water,  no  doubt,  being  found 
near  them.  Passing  these,  and  crossing  a  sandy  tract  in  which  the 
hoi'ses  sank  to  the  fetlocks,  we  reached  the  low  bluft's,  forty  or  fifty 
feet  high,  near  the  shore,  and,  descending,  were  on  the  beach.  A  hill 
near  was  pointed  out  to  me  by  the  missionary  as  that  to  which  Gen- 
eral Gordon  used  to  retire  three  times  a  day  to  read  his  Bible  and  pray, 
when  he  and  my  friend  were  living  together  in  a  tent  on  the  strand. 

As  we  walked  the  horses  along,  some  Arab  boys  on  their  knees 
were  busy  at  one  spot  scooping  out  holes  in  the  sand,  near  the  water's 
edge,  for  the  purpose,  it  appeared,  of  getting  fresh  water  for  some  poor 

I  ^9le9.  xii.  6.    2  Job  U.  8. 


( \ 


122 


THE   HOLY   LAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


[CHAIV 


i 


i 


lean  cattle,  wliicli,  at  the  moment,  were  scrambling  down  to  it  from 
the  bluff'  as  best  tliey  could.  Such  close  neighborhood  of  the  sea  and 
drinkable  springs  seems  strange,  but  it  is  easily  explained  :  tiie  water, 
filtering  down  from  the  higher  ground  behind,  in  seeking  its  level 
comes  near  the  surface  just  at  tiie  edge  of  the  waves.  It  put  me  in 
mind  of  a  plan  I  once  saw  adopted  by  an  Indian  on  Lake  lluron  for 
filtering  river-water  which  was  black  with  pine-juice,  and  tiuis  making 
it  drinkable.  He  simply  scooped  a  hollow  in  the  bank,  so  low  that  the 
black  water  found  its  way  into  it  through  the  sand,  which  kept  back 
all  impurities.  Necessity  is  ever  the  mother  of  invention.  I  tasted 
the  water  in  the  hollows  made  by  the  Arab  boys,  and  found  it  quite 
sweet. 

The  low  hills  or  cliff's,  varying  in  height  from  thirty  to  sixty  feet, 
ran  parallel  with  the  shore  as  we  travelled  on ;  here,  only  fifty  or  sixty 
yards  from  the  water;  elsewhere,  three  or  four  times  as  far  back  ;  the 
sand  hard  and  firm  near  the  sea ;  loose  and  dry  nearer  the  bluff's.  Beds 
of  sea-shells  strewed  the  beach;  chiefly  those  of  limpets  and  clams. 
Thousands  of  larger  and  smaller  blue  jelly-fish  lay  near  the  water,  left 
high  and  dry  by  the  waves;  sand-pipers  ran  in  small  flocks  along  the 
edge  of  the  shallows,  and  gulls,  in  numbers,  sailed  overhead.  There 
was  no  sign  of  vegetation  at  first,  but  after  a  time  a  sprinkling  of  wiry 
grass  showed  itself,  here  and  there,  where  the  bluft's  receded.  Two 
Arabs,  leading,  camels  laden  with  squared  stones  from  the  ruins  of 
Ascalon,  for  use  in  some  building  at  Gaza,  were  the  only  living  crea- 
tures to  be  seen,  excej)t  the  birds,  and  the  few  starved  cattle  at  the 
beginning  of  the  ride.  Only  one  stream  entered  the  sea ;  a  very  small 
one  when  I  saw  it,  but  formidable  enough,  I  was  assured,  after  rains. 
It  flowed  through  a  break  in  the  cliff's,  after  draining  a  wide  stretch  of 
marshy  land  dotted  with  flags,  beyond  which  a  wady  reaches  across  the 
plain  to  the  mountains  of  Judaea,  which  pour  out  their  torrents,  in 
winter,  through  this  channel. 

Ascalon  is  approached,  from  the  cliffs,  over  a  long  waving  tract  of 
hard  sandy  ground,  sprinkled  with  wiry  grass.  The  sea-cliff's  retire  in 
a  semicircle  as  you  reach  the  walls,  which,  indeed,  were  built  on  the 
vantage-ground  thus  provided,  the  space  within  sinking  to  a  rich  hol- 
low, famous  in  all  ages  for  its  abundant  supply  of  water.  The  sand  of 
the  beach  is  invaded,  at  each  end  of  the  arc,  by  an  outcrop  of  low 
sandy  knolls,  the  edge  of  a  plateau  running  back  into  the  country ; 
their  undulating  surface  of  bard  gravelly  sand  strewn  with  potsherds, 
and  shimmering  with  faint  green  when  one  looks  across  it,  though 
nearly  bare  under-foot.  The  walls  of  the  grand  old  fortress  rise  in  a 
half-circle  from  the  top  of  the  ridge,  originally  a  cliff"  sixty  or  seventy 
feet  high,  but  now  a  smooth  but  steep  slope  of  drifted  sand,  both  out- 
side and  within.    On  this  stand  the  massive  fragments  of  the  walls, 


1 


DC.] 


ASCALON. 


123 


which  stretch  round  like  a  deeply-bent  bow ;  the  sea  being  the  bow- 
string.    Not  a  house  is  to  be  seen  in  the  space  they  gird,  once  noisy 
witl)  the  hum  of  men.     Huge  masses  of  thick  wall  lie,  iiere  and  there, 
on  the  inner  slope,  or  on  the  beach,  as  if  thrown  down  by  earthquakes. 
Looking  from  the  top  of  the  mouldering  rampart,  the  whole  amphi- 
theatre once  occupied  by  the  town  was  before  me,  but  it  showed  only 
a  few  confused  ruins;  yonder,  a  long  wall  with  a  number  of  Gothic 
windoW-spaces,   marking   where  the   cathedral  had   once   stood ;    at 
another  place,  an  arch,  the  remains  of  a  Crusadir-g  sanctuary.     But 
amidst  this  wreck,  unconquerable  forces  of  nature,  left  free  to  display 
themselves,  have  vindicated  their  might;  for  the  whole  space  within 
the  yellow  fringe  of  sand  that  slcnes  down  only  too  far,  looks  like  h 
mighty  emerald  set  in  a  broad  circlet  of  gold.    One  would  never  sus- 
pect, from  appearances,  that  you  need  only  dig  a  few  feet  below  the 
rich  soil  to  lay  bare  the  skeleton  of  the  once  mighty  Ascalon.     Gardens 
anc|  orchards,  fenced  with  rude  stone  walls  or  prickly  pear,  and  waving 
with  palms,  fig-trees,  sycamores,  tamarisks,  olives,  tfohannisbrod  trees, 
the  lemon  and  the  almond,  and  with  patches  of  barley,  flourish  over 
th^  grave  of  long-buried  generations.     It  is  a  sight  almost  unrivalled 
in  Palestine,  and  all  the  more  charming  from  the  desolation  around. 
The  fig-trees  were  putting  forth  their  leaves,  so  that  some  peasants  at 
work  could  seek  the  cool  of  their  shade  at  noon.    Here  and  there  vines 
— the  best  in  Palestine — were  budding,  close  up  to  the  slope  of  sand. 
Two  or  three  peasants  in  turbans  and  loose  cotton  shirts  and  drawers, 
bare-legged  and  with  bare  brown  arms,  were  sowing  or  planting  cucum- 
bers, beans,  and  onions.     Ascalon  has  always  been  famous  for  the  last 
vegetable  ;  the  French  word  for  one  kind  of  them — kJj^aloteSj  our  "sha- 
lots" — being  only  a  corruption  of  Ascaloniee,  their  name  in  the  Middle 
Age  Latin  of  the  Crusades.    Abundant  water  has  made  the  little  val- 
ley P,  paradise,  for  thirty-seven  wells  dug  by  the  Crusaders,  all  sweet, 
and  always  full,  still  rejoice  the  hearts  of  the  fellahs. 

Two  Arabs — one  without  a  grey  hair,  though  over  sixty,  with  fine 
features ;  a  pruning-hook  scimitar-shaped  and  toothed,  and  a  wooden 
pipe,  in  his  hands,  his  head  covered  with  a  turban,  a  white  "abba" 
reaching  to  his  knees ;  the  other  still  older,  in  a  brown  striped  "abba" 
and  a  turban — both  bare-legged,  and  with  bare  arms ;  one  bare-footed, 
the  other  with  the  roughest  of  leather  slippers,  came  up  the  slope  ol' 
sand  inside  the  walls,  to  where,  thoroughly  exhausted,  we  had  thrown 
ourselves  down  under  the  shade  of  a  fragment  of  wall,  to  enjoy  the 
shadow  of  a  great  rock  in  a  weary  land.^  Full  of  humor,  they  chatted 
and  laughed  with  my  friend,  who  spoke  Arabic  fluently.  'The  coun- 
try, they  said,  was  waiting  for  some  of  the  great  nations  to  come  and 
take  it ;   it  could  never  remain  under  its  present  government.    The 

1  Isa.  zzxii.  2. 


124 


THE   HOLY   LAND   AND   THE   BIBLE. 


[Chap. 


two  waited  about  till  we  left,  one  of  them  kindly  fetching  water  to  us 
from  a  cistern  in  the  valley. 

Having  rested  awhile,  1  mounted  again  to  ride  round  the  walls,  but 
it  proved  an  impossible  task,  the  way  being  barred  by  ruins  after  I 
had  gone  two-thirds  of  the  cii-cle.  The  fragments  of  walls  that  remain 
are  built  of  small-sized  pieces  of  the  sandstone  of  the  ridge  below,  set  in 
a  wondrous  mortar,  largely  composed  of  sea-sliells,  and  harder  than  the 
stones  it  holds  together.  Kemains  of  the  proud  towers  that  once  rose 
at  intervals  as  flank  defences  are  still  to  be  seen — the  Maiden,  the 
Shield,  the  Bloody  Tower,  the  Admiral's,  and  the  Bedouin's.*  Look- 
ing out  from  these,  the  warders  of  700  years  ago  could  watch  all 
that  approached  from  the  plains ;  an  outstanding  fort,  still  seen  in 
ruins,  helping  them  to  have  as  wide  a  sweep  as  i>ossible,  and  guarding 
the  way  to  the  great  fortress  from  the  military  road  in  the  interior. 
The  ever-encroaching  sands,  fine  as  dust,  have  blown  in  through  tlie 
rifts  and  fissures  in  the  walls,  and  at  some  points  have  ovevwelmed 
the  rich  garden-space.  To  the  east,  the  whole  neighborhood  lies  under 
a  winding-sheet  of  sand,  through  which  in  some  places  the  tops  of 
fences,  and  olive  and  fig-trees,  still  struggle.  The  great  gate  stood  on 
this  side,  towards  the  land,  opening  into  the  town  by  a  side  passage 
through  a  projecting  mass  of  wall.  A  smaller  gate  can  also  be  traced 
on  the  south-west.  The  city  inside  the  walls  once  stretched  five- 
eighths  of  a  mile  from  north  to  south,  and  three-eighths  from  west  to 
east ;  not  a  very  large  place,  according  to  Western  notions.  The  bot- 
tom of  one  of  the  towers,  twenty  feet  across  and  six  feet  high,  lies  over- 
turned, on  the  east,  while  fragments  still  erect  seem  to  defy  time  and 
the  elements.  All  along  the  walls  great  pillars  of  Egyptian  granite, 
one  of  them  seventeen  feet  long  and  a  yard  across,  are  bu'H  into  the 
masonry  to  bind  it  together,  or  have  fallen  to  the  ground.  Herod  the 
Great  had  brought  these  from  Assouan,  at  tremendous  cost,  to  beautify 
the  city  which  boasted  of  being  his  birthplace,  but  the  Crusaders, 
troubled  by  no  reverence  for  antiquity,  utilized  them  to  strengthen  the 
defences.  Some  indeed  may  have  been  much  older  than  the  time  of 
Herod,  for  an  inscription  on  the  walls  of  Karnak  informs  us  that  Asca- 
lon  was  taken  by  King  Eameses  the  Second,  the  Egyptian  oppressor 
of  Israel.  Marble  bases  and  Corinthian  capitals  of  pillars  lay  among 
the  gardens,  and  at  some  points,  columns,  discovered  by  digging  a 
slight  depth,  were  waiting  to  be  broken  up  and  carried  away  as  build- 
ing-stone, or  to  be  burned  into  lime.  I  counted  twenty  deep  and  beau, 
tifully-built  cisterns,  of  hewn  stone — each  with  a  well-plastered  tank 
at  its  side — still  in  daily  use,  700  years  after  they  had  been  made  by 
the  Crusaders.  But  even  these  are  not  safe  from  mean  cupidity  ;  for 
their  carefully -chiselled  stones  are  worth  money  in  Gaza  and  in  the 

1  Fai.  Fund  Memoirt,  voL  iii. 


'CHAP. 


IX.] 


ASGALON. 


125 


to  us 

?,  but 
fterl 
5main 
set  in 
m  the 
e  rose 
n,  tlie 
Look- 
oh  all 
Ben  in 
arding 
terior. 
nil  the 
-elmed 
J  under 
tops  of 
ood  on 
)assage 
traced 
id  five- 
west  to 
he  bot- 


[pressor 
among 

build- 
Id  bean- 
id  tank 
lade  by 
|ty;  for 

in  the 


villages  of  the  Philistine  plain,  and  are  therefore  carried  off  thither  on 
aases,  or,  as  we  saw  by  the  way,  on  camels.  Here  and  there  were 
heaps  of  small  fragments  of  pillars  and  cut  stones  gathered  from  the 
surface,  even  the  paths  between  the  gardens  being  filled  deep  with 
them,  so  that  it  was  not  easy  to  ride  through.  Larger  pieces  of  mar- 
ble, often  showing  traces  of  fair  sculpture,  abounded,  as  did  round 
stones  of  pillars,  apparently  broken  apart  to  obtain  the  lead  clamps 
that  bound  them  together.  The  ropes  at  the  wells  v/ere  let  down  over 
marble  columns  laid  prostrate,  deep  grooves  in  these  showing  how 
manv  centuries  they  had  been  in  use. 

The  walls  ran  along  the  shore  for  some  distance  at  each  side  of  the 
town,  keeping  to  the  stony  ridge,  which  maintained  an  average  height 
of  perhaps  forty  feet  above  the  sea ;  sinking  to  it  abruptly  on  the  west. 
At  both  ends  great  masses  of  wall,  like  rocks,  had  fallen,  and  lay  in 
the  sea  or  on  the  shore.  To  get  to  the  sands  it  was  necessary  to  fol- 
low one  of  the  paths  through  the  gardens,  the  cliffs  being  dangerous 
from  their  steepness.  A  sea-wall  had  originally  run  out  into  the 
waves,  to  protect  the  town  where  it  was  most  exposed,  but  it  has  long 
since  nearly  disappeared.  Six  marble  pillars  were  lying  at  one  spot 
under  the  restless  play  of  the  waves,  and  near  them  were  some  peas- 
ants enjoying  a  bath  in  the  clear,  inviting  water,  quite  indifferent  to 
the  imposing  view  of  the  fortifications  stretching  aloft  on  all  sides 
behind. 

Unfortunately  for  Ascalon,  though  the  line  of  cliffs  recedes  in  a  half- 
circle  from  the  shore  where  the  city  stood,  the  line  of  the  shore  itself 
had  no  indentation  to  form  a  harbor.  The  inducement  to  make  it  a 
town  therefore  lay  in  the  rich  soil  and  the  delicious  climate  of  the  lit- 
tle bay  of  land.  No  keel  or  sail  now  parts  or  shadows  the  sea  at  the 
spot  once  so  famous,  and  even  in  past  ages,  with  sea-walls  and  break- 
waters to  shelter  them  in  some  measure,  ships  must  always  have  been 
very  insecure  when  lying  in  the  so-called  port.  It  could  never  indeed 
have  been  a  proper  harbor,  for  there  is  no  sign  of  a  creek  or  inlet  of 
the  sea  to  shelter  vessels.  It  was  in  fact  so  difficult  to  approach  the 
city  by  water,  in  the  times  of  the  Crusaders,  in  spite  of  the  moles  and 
piers  which  they  had  constructed,  that  one  of  them  informs  us  no  craft 
Qould  enter  it  for  eight  days  after  the  army  had  landed,  on  January 
4th,  1192.  Provision  boats  at  last  got  in,'  but  the  storm  returned,  and 
the  troops  began  again  to  be  in  want  before  the  boats  could  come  back 
to  re-victual  the  place. 

It  was  touching  to  stand  amidst  such  ruins  and  recall  the  hoary 
past.  Before  Israel  left  Egypt,  Ascalon  was  one  of  the  five  cities 
of  the  Philistines ;  indeed,  it  had  been  taken,  as  we  have  seen,  by 
the  great  Bameses,  the  contemporary  of  Moses.  In  the  time  of  the 
Jddges,  while  the  Hebrews  were  urged  on  by  their  first  enthusiasm,  it 


126 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  Till!:  131 BLE. 


[CBAP. 


fell  for  a  short  time  into  the  hands  of  the  tribe  of  Judah,^  but  only  to 
be  soon  retaken  by  its  old  population,  in  wliose  liands  it  permanently 
remained.  The  temple  of  Derketo,  ti>e  Phoenician  Venus,  seems  to 
have  stood  beside  the  still  flowing  stream  of  tl»e  Wady-el-Hesy,  of 
whicli  I  have  spoken  ;  the  waters  offering  the  opportunity  of  preserv- 
ing the  flsli  sacred  to  her,  in  pools  made  for  their  use.^  It  seems 
strange,  with  onr  notions,  that  an  imago  which  was  half  woman  and 
half  fish  should  be  worshipped,  but  antiquity  was  the  childhood  of  the 
world,  and  symbols  were  tiiereforo  natural  to  it.  Like  Dagon,  her 
male  complement,  Derketo  had  come  to  Palestine  through  the  Phoeni- 
cians, or,  perhaps,  had  been  brought  by  the  Philistines  themselves, 
when  they  migrated,  in  pro-historic  nges,  from  the  east  to  the  west. 
In  any  case,  it  was  in  keeping  with  the  position  of  the  people  of  Asca- 
lon,  on  the  shore  of  the  groat  sea,  that  in  their  worship  of  the  repro- 
ductive powers  of  nature  they  should  select  the  fish  as  the  emblem  of 
fecundity.  For  ages,  men  ana  women  thronged  to  her  altars,  the  war- 
like and  yet  keenly  commercial  Philistines  retaining  their  existence  as 
a  nation — at  intervals,  indeed,  dependent — till  Alexander  the  Great 
finally  crushed  them.  From  that  time  Egypt  and  Syria  raised  their 
standards,  by  turns,  on  the  old  walls  of  Ascalon  till  it  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  Jews  under  the  Maccabees.^  David,  in  his  touching 
lament  over  the  fall  of  Saul  and*  Jonathan  on  Mount  Gilboa,  had  cried, 
"  Tell  it  not  in  Oath,  publish  it  not  in  the  streets  of  Ascalon  ;  lest  the 
daughters  of  the  Philistines  rejoice,  lest  the  daughters  of  the  uncircuin- 
cised  triumph."*  But  the  sun  of  the  once  mighty  people  had  now 
sunk  for  ever.  Jeremiah  had  foretold  that  "he  that  holdeth  the  scep- 
tre is  cut  off  from  Ascalon ;  it  is  a  desolation;  it  is  no  more  inhabited; 
it  is  a  desolation,"*^  and  the  curse  was  beginning  to  be  fulfilled.  Its 
full  accomplishment,  however,  was  for  a  time  delayed. 

Within  the  hollow  cup  now  filled  with  gardens  Herod  the  Great 
first  saw  the  light,  in  some  long-vanished  palace,  built  among  the 
closely-packed  streets ;  and  here,  in  after-days,  he  built  "  baths  and 
costly  fountains,  and  a  cloistered  court."®  After  his  death,  Salome, 
his  sister,  received  the  city  from  CsBsar  as  part  of  her  dowry;  and  in 
her  days,  as  in  those  of  Herod,  alongside  the  worship  of  Derketo  flour- 
ished that  of  a  multitude  of  Greek  and  Eoman  gods  and  goddessee, 
which  were  not  dethroned  'till  the  days  of  Arcadius,  400  years  later. 
In  the  last  great  Jewish  warj  Ascalon  suffered  terribly;  the  Hebrews 
having  turned  against  it,  in  fierce  revenge  for  its  population  having 
massacred  2,500  of  their  race  in  an  outbreak  of  anti-Semitism  of  a 
very  malignant  type.    But  before  the  Crusades  it  had  risen,  once  more, 

1  Judg.  i.  18.  2  Diod.  slo.  (ti,  4)  has  a  curious  legend  respecting  it.  The  position  of  the  lake  is 
only  conjectural.  S  1  Mace.  x.  w;  xl.  6U.  4  2  Sam.  i.  20.  The  Ascalon  noticed  in  the  history  of 
Samson  may  have  been  a  town  of  that  name  near  Ids  own  country  in  the  hills.  He  could  hardly 
have  ventured  into  a  great  place  like  the  sea-side  Ascalon,  to  slay  thirty  Pliillstines.  6  Jer.  zzv. 
20;xlvU.6-7.  6  Jos.  feU.  Jud.,  i.  21,  U. 


ft''  '-a 


Illy  to 
lently 
ms  to 
3sy,  of 
•eserv- 
seerns 
an  and 
of  the 
jn,  her 
fhoeni- 
i  selves, 
e  west, 
f  Asca- 
5  repro- 
blern  of 
he  war- 
tence  as 
e  Great 
ed  their 
into  the 
ouching 
id  cried, 
lest  the 


Le  Great 
|iong  the 
iths  and 
Salome, 
;  and  in 
sto  flour- 
(ddesseC; 
lars  later, 
ebrews 
having 
ism  of  a 
[ice  more, 

p!  the  laKe  is 

he  history  of 

lould  hardly 

6  Jer.zzv. 


f 


w 
n 


IX.] 


▲80AL0N. 


m 


under  the  Arabs,  to  be  a  flourishing  town,  and  it  was  only  wrested 
from  them  in  a.  d.  1158,  after  a  seven  months'  siege,  by  Baldwin  III. 
Thirty -four  years  later  it  was  retaken  by  Saladin,  and  dismantled,  so 
that  the  reign  of  the  Crusaders  was  shoit.  It  iiad,  in  fact,  fallen  before 
Riohard  the  Lion-hearted  set  foot  in  the  Holy  Land.  To  make  its  ruin 
more  complete,  its  miserable  harbor  was  filled  uj)  with  stones,  so  that 
for  700  years  no  vessels  could  make  it  their  haven.  Fierce  and  bloody 
battles  between  Saracen  and  Crusader  stormed  round  and  within  the 
half-circle  of  these  vralls.  Merchants  of  all  lands  brought  their  wares 
to  it  while  it  was  a  Christian  city,  but  from  the  time  that  Saladin 
destroyed  it,  in  1187,  it  has  been  desolate.  The  Ascalon  of  the  Cru- 
saders now  lies  under  many  feet  of  soil,  from  which  memorials  of  its 
greatness  in  days  far  earlier  than  the  Middle  Ages  continue,  as  we  have 
seen  to  be  dug  up.  Beside  the  marble  pillars  thus  recovered,  and  laid 
at  the  edge  of  each  well  to  ease  the  drawing  of  the  water,  is  generally 
to  be  found  a  richly-carved  base  or  capital,  of  which  the  only  use  is 
that  the  brown  peasant  girl  may  tie  the  well-ropes  to  it  when  she 
wishes  to  do  so. 

A  little  to  the  east  of  the  ancient  walls,  on  the  other  side  of  a  little 
valley,  lies  the  village  of  New  Ascalon,  or  El-Jurah,  embosomed  in 
rich  green ;  a  second  small  oasis  in  the  sand -wastes  around.  Beyond 
it,  to  the  south-east,  is  the  village  of  Nalia,  north  and  south  of  which 
stretches  quite  a  wood  of  olives,  some  of  them  growing  in  the  very 
midst  of  sandy  desolation.  Like  the  famous  aveuue  of  tlie  same  tree 
at  Gaza,  these  are  said  to  be  very  ancient,  though  it  is  hard  to  tell  the 
age  of  an  olive,  for  its  pierced  and  rugged  stem  looks  old  almost  from 
the  first.  At  Gaza,  however,  there  is  no  doubt  as  to  the  great  ago  of 
the  trees,  which  seem  to  justify  the  local  belief  that  none  have  been 
planted  since  the  Moslem  conquest,  though  the  idea  that  those  of  the 
great  avenue  north  of  the  town  date  from  the  time  of  Alexander  the 
Great,  gives  them  an  antiquity  too  vast  for  ready  belief.  That  they 
may  be  many  centuries  old,  however,  is  not  improbable,  for  the  tree  sel- 
dom dies,  shooting  out  suckers  from  the  root  as  the  trunk  fails,  till  a 
group  of  these  take  its  place — the  "olive-plants"  round  the  parent  stem, 
to  which,  as  1  have  noticed,^  the  Psalmist  compares  a  family  round  the 
household  tablo.^  After  a  time  one  of  these,  duly  grafted,  fills  the  room 
formerly  occupied  by  its  predecessor,  and  thus  the  grove  is  perpetuated 
without  much  trouble  to  its  owners.  I  like  to  linger  on  the  story  of 
the  olive;  its  shade  is  so  cool  and  grateful;  its  uses  so  many  and 
benificent;  its  very  leaves  so  abiding  an  emblem  of  peace  and  good- 
will, from  the  days  of  the  Flood  to  our  own.  The  natives  do  not  com- 
monly seek  the  shade  of  the  fig-tree,  believing  that  it  causes  ophthalmia, 
but  they  delight  to  sit  under  the  olive. 

1  See  ante,  p.  141.   2  Fs.  cxxTlil.  8. 


128 


tut  HOLY  LAKD  AKD  THE  BIBLS. 


(OlAr. 


The  hope  of  the  peasunt  at  Ascalon,  that  some  of  the  Frank  nations 
would  soon  come  and  take  Palestine,  is  conninon  to  the  whole  popula- 
tion. Turkish  govenunont  consists  simply  in  collecting  the  taxes  and 
quelling  tumults,  which  often  break  out  through  oppression.  The 
crops  are  assessed  before  tiie  harvest,  and  are  frequently  letl  till  over- 
ripe, the  owner  having  to  bribe  the  official  with  a  larger  share  of  them, 
to  secure  his  coming  in  time  to  save  wluit  is  left,  Iniforo  all  the  grain 
falls  out  of  the  dry  ears.  The  taxes  moreover  are  fixed  without  any 
regard  to  the  amount  of  the  crops,  good  years  and  bad  luiving  to  pay 
alike,  thougii  nothing  be  left  to  the  j)0()r  tiller  of  the  ground.  Bashf- 
Bazouks  are  sent  out  to  gather  the  grain  or  fruit  claimed  by  Gov- 
ernment, a  fact  that  helps  one  to  realize  the  extortion  and  villainy  that 
follow.  Ti>e  Turk  is  the  king  of  the  locusts,  his  officials  their  deso- 
lating army.  If  the  "kaimacan,"  or  governor,  goes  out  with  the  sol- 
diers,  he  and  his  followers  must  be  fed  and  housed  in  the  best  style  at 
the  cost  of  the  village.  Tiio  soldiers  also  live  at  free  quarters,  and 
fleece  the  unhappy  peasants  at  their  will. 

It  has  often  oeen  a  question  whether  the  word^  translated  "apples" 
and  "apple-tree"  in  our  Bible^  should  bo  so  rendered.  Tristram, 
among  others,  thinks  that  this  fruit  "barely  exists  in  the  Holy  Land," 
since,  though  a  few  trees  are  found  in  the  gardens  of  Joppa,  they  do 
not  thrive,  and  have  a  wretched  woody  fruit.  "  He  says,  moreover, 
that  he  scarcely  ever  saw  the  apple-iree  till  he  reached  Damascus, 
except  on  a  few  very  high  situations  in  Lebanon.^  On  the  other  hand, 
Dr.  Thomson  maintains  that  "Ascalon  is  especially  celebrated  for  its 
apples,  which  are  the  largest  and  best  I  have  seen  in  this  country."* 
and  Sir  Charles  Warren  specifics  apples  as  a  '^^Migst  the  fruits  the 
locality  yields.^  Dr.  Otto  Delitzscli,®  also,  "las  no  hesitatation  in 
thinking  tiie  apple  is  meant,  noting  how  widely  it  must  have  been 
grown  in  former  times  from  the  fact  that  towns  are  called  after  it,  as 
Tappuah,  "Apple-town;"  Beth -Tappuah,  the  Home  of  the  apple;" 
and  En-Tappuah,  "the  Apple  Fountains;  "'^  and  adding  that  it  is  still 
grown  in  various  parts  of  Palestine.  That  it  docs  grow  at  Ascialon 
and  in  the  country  round,  is  beyond  dispute,  as  my  friend  at  (ia/,n 
was  invited  to  rent  an  apple  orchard,  and  tells  me  that  the  fruit  is  both 
good  and  plentiful.  It  is  possible,  however,  that  the  Hebrew  word 
may  stand  for  tlie  quince  as  well  as  the  apple,  as  mehm,  in  Greek, 
means  the  apple  or  the  quince,  the  peach,  the  orange  or  citron,  or  the 
apricot,*  though  in  each  case  the  name  of  the  country  from  wiiich  the 
particular  fruit  first  came  is  affixed,  to  secure  exactness.  Tristram 
thinks  Dr.  Thomson  may  have  mistaken  the  quince  for  the  apple,  and 
has  no  hesitation  in  expressing  his  conviction  that  the  apricot  alone  is 

1  "Tappuah."  2  Cant.  ii.  3,  6;  vii. 8;  vHI.  6;  Prov.  xxv.  11 ;  Joel  1. 12.  3  Tristram,  Nat.  im. 
Bible,  p.  384 ;  Land  cf  Jsrad,  p.  604.  4  Land  and  Book,  p.  545.  6  Pfctureague  FuleiHne,  ill.  II 
6  Riebm,  p.  68.  7  Josh.  zli.  17; xv. 34, 58;  xvl.  8;  zvii.  7.   8  Liddell  and  Soott7 


OMaF. 


IX.] 


ASCATX)N. 


129 


itions 
pula- 
s  and 
The 
over- 
them, 
gniiu 
It  &\\y 
:o  pav 
BnHhi- 
'  Gov- 
ly  tlmt 
r  deso- 
he  sol- 
tyle  at 
rs,  and 

ipples" 
i strain, 
Land," 
hey  do 
jreover, 
mascus, 
}T  hand, 
for  its 
ntry."* 
ts  the 
ion  in 
been 
cr  it,  as 
pie ; " 
is  still 
A8(;alon 

it    i\\\7A\ 
is  both 
vv  wonl 
Greek, 
.  or  the 
lich  the 
ristrani 
)ple,  and 
alone  is 

mt.  Hitt.  of 
ine,  111.  166. 


ve 


iPl 


the  apple  of  Scripture.  Yet  Dr.  Thomnflon  savs  that  he  saw  quite  a 
caravan  start  from  Ascalon  for  Jerusalcru  laden  with  apples  which 
would  not  have  disgraced  even  an  American  orchard,  and  I  was 
informed  in  Jerusalem  that  the  fruit,  native-grown,  is  common  in  the 
market  in  autumn. 

How  striking  is  it,  when  one  thinks  of  the  flsh-god,  Dagon,  wor- 
shipped in  Gaza  and  elsewhere,  and  the  fisli-goddes8,Derketo,  honoured 
in  Ascalon,  to  road  that  the  Hebrews  were  prohibited  from  making 
'•  the  likeness  of  any  fish,"  lest  they  might  corrupt  themselves  by 
using  it  for  a  graven  image  1'  How  easily  they  might  have  fallen 
into  this  idolatry,  and  how  hard  any  form  of  worship  is  to  extirpate  when 
once  accepted,  is  seen  in  the  curious  fact  that  sacred  fish  are  still 
preserved  in  various  pools  or  fountains  in  Syria. 

In  returning  we  did  not  reach  the  sand-hills  leading  to  Gaza  till  dark : 
an  awkward  matter,  even  with  a  plain  and  well-known  road,  but  still 
more  so  with  the  ghastly  sand  stretching  out  in  the  faint  moonlight, 
evervwhere  alike  white.  Our  guide,  who  had  kept  faithfully  with  us 
for  half  the  journey  back,  had  been  invisible  for  some  time,  having 
very  likely  taken  a  short  cut  to  Gaza  over  the  dunes,  before  sunset. 
What  was  to  be  done?  Our  lady  comrade  feared  we  should  have  to 
make  the  sand  our  coverlet  for  the  night.  The  Levantine  and  the 
missionary,  however,  declared  they  knew  the  way ;  only  follow  them 
and  all  would  be  well.  But  it  was  soon  clear  that  they  had  lost  their 
reckonings,  if  ever  they  had  any.  To  make  matters  worse,  the  moon 
hid  itself  behind  clouds.  "We  wandered  east,  we  wandered  west; 
we  wandered  many  a  mile,"  as  the  old  ballad  says,  but  at  last  a  tree  or 
two  could  be  made  ont,  and  we  knew  that  the  gardens  of  Gaza  were 
near.  Yet,  at  what  part  of  them  were  w*?,  for  they  stretch  along  for 
miles  ?  Moreover,  the  paths,  when  we  reached  them,  were  far  from 
safe.  At  one  spot  I  had  noticed  a  deep  excavation  across  almost  the 
whole  road ;  a  pit,  made,  I  was  told,  by  the  shopkeepers  of  the  town, 
to  get  sand  to  strew  in  their  booths ;  for,  within  wide  limits,  every 
man,  under  the  indolent  rule  of  the  Turk,  does  what  is  good  in  his 
own  eyes.  It  was  now  ten  o'clock,  and  the  narrow  lanes  between  the 
gardens  seemed  a  repetition  of  Kosamond's  bower.  We  might  have 
repeated,  like  Sterne's  starling,  "  We  can't  get  out."  Hope  seemed 
laughing  at  us.  At  last  the  wretched  dogs  proved  our  unintentional 
friends.  We  had  reached  their  happy  hunting-grounds,  and  they  forth- 
with gave  voice  from  every  garden,  till  in  the  end  they  roused  a 
watchman  from  his  slumbers,  and  brought  him  to  see  what  had  hap- 
pened. A  boy  whom  he  sent  soon  ended  the  comedy,  and  led  us 
safely  home,  somewhere  about  eleven  o'clock,  tired  and  hungry 
enough. 

1  Deut.  iv.  18.    Boch.  HUroeoic  i.  48. 

9 


130 


THE   HOLY  LAND   AND  THE   BIBLE. 


[Chap. 


m 


In  a  town  like  Gaza  the  bark  of  dogs  and  the  call  of  the  muezzin  to 
prayer  are  almost  the  only  sounds  that  disturb  either  day  or  night. 
Five  times  a  day  a  voice  is  heard  from  the  minarets  of  the  mosques, 
summoning  the  faithful  to  their  devotions — at  sunset,  when  it  has 
grown  quite  dark,  at  daybreak,  at  noon,  and  midway  in  the  afternoon. 
At  sunrise,  noon,  and  sunset,  the  muezzin  lets  the  exact  moment  pass 
before  raising  his  call,  the  Prophet  having  wished  it  to  be  so,  since 
iniidels  prayed  at  these  three  times,  and  it  would  never  do  for  the 
prayers  of  his  followers  to  enter  heaven  along  with  those  of  unbeliev- 
ers. The  cry  rises  solemnly  four  times,  "God  is  most  great."  Then 
follows,  twice,  "  I  testify  that  there  is  no  God  but  God  ; "  then  comes, 
also  twice,  "^  testify  that  Mahomet  is  the  apostle  of  God ;  "  then  twice, 
again,  "Come  to  prayer;"  once  more,  twice,  "Come  to  security;" 
then,  twice,  "God  is  most  great,"  and  "There  is  no  God  but  God." 
The  whole  is  chanted  to  a  special  air,  and  sounds  far  better,  in  my 
opinion,  than  the  jangle  of  bells  which  takes  its  jilace  with  us. 
Among  the  Hebrews,  the  blast  of  a  ram's- horn  trumpet  from  tiie 
Temple  served  the  same  purpose,  but  the  Jews  seem  to  have  had  only 
three  fixed  hours  of  prayer* — "evening,"  or  the  ninth  hour,  that  is, 
three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  when  the  evening  sacrifice  was  offered  ;2 
"  the  morning,"  or  third  hour,  the  time  of  the  morning  sacrifice,  that 
is,  nine  o'clock  ;  and  the  sixth  our,  or  noon-day.  Some,  however,  like 
the  author  of  the  119th  Psalm,  could  not  content  themselves  with  this 
rule,  but  paid  their  devotions  "seven  times  a  day  ;  "  adding. their  pri- 
vate prayers  to  those  fixed  by  general  custom. 

As  the  Mahommedans  turn  their  faces  in  worship  to  their  holiest 
sanctuary  at  Mecca,  so  the  jews  turned  towards  the  Temple  at  Jerusa- 
lem in  their  devotions ;  ^  and  just  as  the  former,  even  now,  kneel  down 
wherever  they  haifpen  to  be  when  the  projier  hour  arrives,  so  the 
ancient  Jews  stood  and  prayed  wherever  they  might  be  at  the 
appointed  times;  some  of  them,  of  no  great  worth,  taking  care  that 
the  moment  should  overtake  them  when  they  were  in  the  most  public 
places,  such  as  the  corners  of  the  streets.*  Their  descendants  still, 
in  their  universal  dispersion,  follow  the  same  practice,  turning  their 
faces,  wherever  they  may  be,  towards  their  beloved  Jerusalem.  To 
finable  them  to  do  so  in  their  synagogues,  the  door  is  placed,  if  pos- 
sible, so  that  the  worshiper  as  he  enters  shall  face  the  far-distant 
sacred  spot,  just  as  in  mosques  there  is  a  niche  to  indicate  the  point  to 
which  the  supplications  should  be  addressed.  It  has  been  the  same  in 
many  religions  from  the  earliest  times.  The  twenty-five  apostate 
elders  seen  by  the  prophet  in  his  vision^  had  their  backs  turned  to  the 
Temple  and  their  faces  to  the  east,  to  worship  the  rising  sun,  and  it 

1  P8.  Iv.  17 :  Dan.  vi.  10.     2  Acts  111.  1, 10 :  Dan.  Ix.  21.     8  1  Kings  vlll.  44-48 ;  Dan.  vi.  10;  Ps. 
T.  1{  zxviii.  i;  cxxxviii.  2.   4  Matt.  vi.  6.   6  Ezelc.  viii.  16. 


? 
% 


rx.] 


ASCALON. 


181 


may  have  been  with  the  intention  of  preventing  this  that  the  Temple 
entrance  was  on  the  east,  so  that  the  worshipper  looked  westward  in 
directing  his  prayers  to  tlie  Holy  of  Holies.  Like  the  Sun- Worship- 
pers, the  Greeks  and  Eomans  prayed  towards  the  east,  so  building  their 
temples  and  placing  the  statues  of  the  god  worshipped  in  them  that 
everyone  should  approach  in  the  proper  direction. 

I  hardly  know  a  more  touching  sight  than  the  hour  of  prayer  in  the 
East.  Rich  and  poor  forthwith  set  their  faces  to  the  holy  place  of 
their  faith,  sometimes  after  spreading  their  prayer-carpet,  often  with  no 
such  prej)aration,  and  begin  their  devotions  in  absolute  indifference  to 
all  around  them  ;  now  bowing  the  head,  then  kneeling  and  touching 
the  earth  repeatedly  with  their  brow;  presently  rising  again,  and 
repeating  their  homage  and  prostrations  to  the  Unseen  with  the  utmost 
fervour.  Among  the  Hebrews,  in  the  same  way,  the  postures  of  devo- 
tion included  standing,  kneeling,  and  bending  to  the  earth,  the  hands 
being  lifted  up  or  spread  out  before  Jehovah  ;  ^  and  it  will  be  remem- 
bered that  in  the  only  instance  in  which  the  posture  of  our  Lord  in 
prayer  is  recorded,  He  first  kneeled,  and  then  fell  prostrate  on  the 
ground.2 

At  Ascalon  and  Gaza  there  are,  perhaps,  more  palm-trees  than  in  any 
other  part  of  the  Holy  Land,  for  Beirut,  where  they  are  very  numer- 
ous, is  in  Syria.  Kising,  with  slender  stem,  forty  or  fifty,  at  times  even 
eighty  feet  aloft — its  only  branches  the  feathery,  sword-like,  pale-green 
fronds,  from  six  to  twelve  feet  long,  bending  from  its  top — the  palm 
attracts  the  eye  wherever  it  is  seen.  Inside  the  coronal  that  bends 
round  the  summit,  the  marrowy  spear  which  forms  the  growing  head 
of  the  tree  is  hidden — the  promise  of  a  new  crown  of  fronds,  which,  in 
its  time,  will  replace  the  old.  The  fruit-buds  spring  from  the  point 
where  the  pendent  leaves  hang  from  the  trunk,  shooting  forth  in  April 
with  a  grateful  perfume,  and  gradually  enlarging  till  they  hang  down 
in  long  clusters  of  whitish  yellow  flowers,  which  shine  from  afar  amidst 
the  surrounding  green.  Twelve  thousand  blossoms  are  sometimes 
counted  on  a  single  pollen-bearing  tree,  those  which  beai  fruit  having 
fewer.  Only  one  of  the  two  kinds  yields  dates,  and  that  only  when 
the  wind,  or  artificial  aid,  strews  the  dust  of  the  other  on  its  flowers. 
Five  months  after  this  has  been  done  great  clusters  of  ripe  red  fruit 
glitter  below  the  leaves,  supplying  to  her  lover,^  ages  ago,  an  image  for 
the  swelling  beauty  of  the  bosom  of  Sulamith.  By  piercing  the  stem 
immediately  under  the  coronal  a  kind  of  drink  is  obtained,  which  is 
known  as  palm-wine,  strongly  intoxicating,  but  soon  turning  to  vine- 
gar.   The  fibres  of  the  leaf-stalk  and  fruit-stalk  are  separated  for  cords; 

1  1  Kings  vlil.  M;  2 Chron.  vl.l3;  Ezra  lx.5;  Ps.  xcv.  6;  Dan.  vi.  10:  Josh.  vil.  6;  1  Kings  will 
42;  Neh.  vlli.  6;  Ps.  xxvlll.  2;  cxxxlv.  2;  Ex.  ix.  33,  2  Luke  vxU,  41:  Mark  xiv,  35,  3  Cant.  VU.  8, 
Date-clnstei'8,  not  tbose  Qt  grapes,  are  meant. 


IS'i 


THE   HOLY  LAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


[Chaf. 


t.be  leaves  are  woven  into  baskets,  mats,  and  other  conveniences,  and 
i)ie  sterns  serve  as  beams. 

Egypt  is  especially  the  land  of  the  date-palm,  which  shuns  the  zone 
of  rains,  and  yields  its  best  only  in  sub-tropical  or  tropical  rainless 
oountries,^  and  such  a  region  the  Nile  valley  supplies.  There,  groves 
of  palms  are  at  once  the  beauty  and  the  wealth  of  extensive  districts; 
great  heaps  of  dates  exposed  lor  sale  in  every  street  of  each  town  or 
village  inviting  tiie  poor  to  buy  what  is  their  chief  support,  and  offer- 
ing the  wanderer  in  the  desert  the  food  he  can  most  conveniently  carry. 
Palms  were  once  abundant  in  the  Sinai  peninsula  also,  for  the  Hebrews 
camped  there  amidst  a  grove  of  dates  ;2  but  the  terrible  rain-storms  of 
these  ports  have  uprooted  all  the  trees  that  once  clothed  the  now  bare 
hill-sides.^ 

In  Palestine  the  palm  does  not  ripen  farther  north  than  some  miles 
south  of  G.iza,  though  it  is  met  with  in  nearly  every  part  of  the  land, 
especially  along  the  sea-coast.  Even  at  Jerusalem,  though  that  city 
lies  2,500  feet  above  the  Mediterranean,  palms  grow  in  the  open  air, 
but  they  yield  no  fruit.  I.i  the  same  way  we  find  a  whole  grove  of 
them  close  to  Nazareth,  equally  beautiful,  but  they  yield  only  a  grate- 
ful shade,  or  branches  for  yearly  festivals.  Deborah,  the  judge,  once 
lived  under  a  palm-tree  on  Mount  Ephraim,*  and,  indeed,  the  toee  was 
anciently  so  common  as  to  supply  trio  symbol  adopted  by  Shechem 
and  Sepphoris  on  coins  struck  for  these  towns  under  the  Eomans.  It 
appears,  moreover,  as  air  emblem  of  the  whole  land  on  the  medals 
which  commemorate  the  victories  of  Vespasian  and  Titus.  But  the 
Israelite  could  not  enjoy  the  ripe  fruit  except  in  the  hot  depression  of 
Jericho,  once  known  as  "the  City  of  Palms,"  ^  at  Tamar  in  the  far 
south,  and  at  Engedi,  or  Hazezon-Tamar — "the  Place  of  Palm-cutting" 
— from  the  villagers  there  cutting  out  the  sweet  central  marrowy 
crown  from  the  head  of  the  tree.^  Still,  the  Hebrew  delighted  in  the 
long,  slender  beauty  of  the  stem  and  its  hanging  fronds,  and  mothers 
fondly  called  their  new-born  girls  by  the  name  of  the  tree — Tamar — 
as  we  see  in  the  case  of  the  daughter-in-law  of  Judah,  and  the  sister 
of  ^.bsalom;'^  hoping,  no  doubt,  that  they  might  one  day  grow  up  to 
be  tall  and  graceful  maidens.  The  sacred  lyrist  looked  up  with  a  poet's 
eye  to  the  long,  shining,  beautiful  fronds  of  the  palms  growing  in  the 
forecourt  of  the  Temple,  and  sang  in  his  joy  that  "  the  righteous  would 
flourish  like  the  palm-tree." ^  The  interior  of  Solomon's  Temple  was 
richly  adorned  with  gilded  palm-trees,  cut  out  in  relief  on  the  walls, 
and  the  ideal  sanctuary  of  Eaokiel  also  was  beautified  in  the  same  way.* 
Palm-branches  have  from  the  remotest  ages  been  the  symbol  of  trium- 
phal rejoicing,  ancient  Palestine,  like  other  lands,  using  them  to  express 


1  Biti  "r,  Erdkunde,  xvi.  3,  41  (Berlin,  1852.)     2  Sx.  at.  27.    3  See  ante,  p.  128.    4  Judg.  Iv.  6, 

6Dent.  Ltxlv.3;  .Tudg.  llt.l8;2Clm  "*  "     -"---•     "  "^ *^    

flMtLZULL    8  P8. xcfl.  12, 18. 


Ltxlv.  srJudgTilt.  18r2  fcliron!'xxvriT.'l5."  e'Kno'ber."  2''Chron.laL.  2.' 
■        -  9lKlng8vl.29;Tli.86;Bzek,xl.l9, 


7  Gen.  xxxviii.  6,-  i 


X.J 


ON   THE   WAY   TO   GERAR. 


133 


such  public  gladness.  About  140  years  before  Christ,  Simon  Macca- 
bteus,  having  won  back  Jerusalem  for  his  people,  entered  it  accom- 
panied by  a  vast  '  lultitude,  "with  thanksgiving,  and  branches  of  palm- 
trees,  and  with  harps  and  cymbals,  and  with  viols  and  hymns  and 
songs,  because  there  was  destroyed  a  great  enemy  out  of  Israel."^ 
And  who  can  forget  how  a  Greater  Deliverer  passed  down  the  slopes 
of  Olivet  and  wound  up  the  height  of  Moriah,  attended  by  a  very 
great  multitude,  some  of  them  spreading  their  garments  on  the  way, 
that  as  a  king  He  might  ride  over  the  tapestry  thus  made  on  the 
moment;  others  cutting  down  branches  from  the  trees  and  throwing 
them  at  His  feet,  to  strew  His  path  with  all  they  had  for  flowers,  while 
crowds  took  branches  of  palm  and  went  forth  to  meet  Him,  crying, 
"Ilosanna!  Blessed  is  the  King  of  Israel  that  cometh  in  the  name  of 
the  Lord !"2 

The  palm  lent  itself  readily  to  sacred  imagery.  The  Psalmist,  who 
daily  saw  it — "  planted  in  the  house  of  the  Lord,  and  flourishing  in  the 
courts  of  our  God,  bringing  forth  fruit  in  old  age,  and  full  of  sap  and 
green," ^  employs  it  as  an  emblem  of  the  righteous,  than  which  nothing 
could  be  more  striking  or  appropriate.  It  is  still  borne  by  pilgrims 
on  Palm  Sunday,  in  commemoration  of  Christ's  entry  into  Jerusalem; 
the  bier  of  His  followers  is  often  covered  with  it,  as  a  symbol  of  their 
victory  over  death,  and  the  great  multitude  of  the  redeemed  in  glory 
are  pictured  as  standing  "before  the  throne  and  befcie  the  Lamb, 
arrayed  in  white  robes,  and  palms  in  their  hands."* 


CHAPTER  X. 


lar — 
sister 
ip  to 
ket's 

the 
rould 

was 
rails, 

fay* 

ium- 
)res8 

Iv.  6' 
liii.  6;  i 


or  THE  WAY  TO  GERAR. 

Gerar,  the  centre  of  the  district  in  which  Isaac  lived  during  nearly 
the  whole  of  his  quiet,  uneventful  career,  has  been  identified  with 
Umm-el-Jerrar,  a  few  miles  on  the  way  to  Beersheba,  which  is  about 
thirty  miles  south-east  of  Gaza.  Hiring  horses  at  the  rate  of  about 
seven  shillings  a  da}'^  for  three,  including  the  wage  of  a  gaily-dressed 
guide,  we  zet  off  in  the  early  morning.  Our  conductor's  appearance 
was  certainly  striking :  a  pink-striped  under-tunic  covered  his  cotton 
leggings  and  shirt,  a  bluejacket,  with  black  braid,  surmounting  it;  a 
red  sash  set  off  his  waist,  with  two  flint  horse-pistols,  silver-mounted, 
but  very  old,  stuck  in  his  girdle ;  a  yellow  silk  striped  "  Icefiyeh"  cov- 
1 1  Mace.  xii.  51 .   2  Matt.  xxl.  8 ;  Mark  xl.  8 ;  John  zU.  13.   8  Fs.  xolL  18.  4  Rev.  vii.  8. 


mm 


184 


THE   HOLY   LAND  AND  THE   BIBLE. 


[Chap. 


I 


ered  his  head,  its  golden  ends  fluttering  over  his  shoulders,  with  the 
usual  cincture  of  solt  camels'-hair  rope  round  his  brow,  keeping  all  in 
place:  a  romantic  costume  with  which  the  decidedly  shabby  pair  of 
elastic  boots  that  held  his  lower  extremities  was  hardly  in  keeping. 
The  horse  he  rode  seemed  as  fiery  as  himself,  but  it  had  to  lament  the 
indignity  of  a  closely -docked  tail,  the  only  instance  of  this  I  met  in  the 
East. 

The  road  lay  to  the  south,  through  sandy  lanes,  between  orchards 
concealed  by  huge  cactus-hedges.  Women  passed,  duly  veiled,  with 
jars  of  water,  or  with  bundles  of  firewood  from  pruned  trees,  on  their 
head  or  shoulder;  asses,  with  stones  in  each  coarse  pannier,  from  some 
surface  quarry  or  old  ruin.  Larks  sang  in  the  air  and  on  the  ground. 
An  Arab  stood  beside  two  small  cows  which  were  feeding  at  the  road- 
side; his  coat  a  sheep's  skin,  with  the  wool  inside,  over  his  "abba." 
The  cold  of  the  mornings  and  nights,  Avhich  causes  rheumatism  to  be 
very  general  among  the  fellahin,  makes  such  warm  clothing  a  neces- 
sity for  those  who  are  exposed.  Still  more  asses,  laden  with  stones, 
went  past;  small  boys,  in  blue  shirts  and  old  fezzes,  driving  them.  A 
light  plough  was  being  drawn  by  a  camel  at  one  place ;  by  undersized 
oxen  at  another.  The  telegraph-poles  of  the  line  to  Egypt  ran  along- 
side the  track.  On  the  right  were  the  sand-hills,  blowing  farther 
inland  each  year.  Donkeys  with  sour  milk  in  skin  bottles ;i  two 
women  planting  vegetable  marrows,  cucumbers,  and  th?  like;  five 
dirty  peasants  on  asses,  riding  into  Gaza ;  Arab  shepherds  in  old  brown 
"  abbas "  tending  their  flocks  on  the  slope  to  the  left,  after  we  had 
reached  the  open  country ;  their  tents,  black  and  low,  close  at  hand, 
behind ;  more  ploughs,  drawn  by  camels ;  and  an  Arab  on  a  camel, 
riding  into  Gaza — gave  life  to  the  landscape  as  we  rode  on ;  miles, 
however,  intervening  between  the  first  and  the  last  of  this  motley  suc- 
cession. 

The  dress  of  Southern  Palestine  is  very  much  alike  for  all  classes. 
A  turban,  fez,  or  "  kefiyeh ; "  a  cotton  shirt,  with,  at  times,  a  colored 
cotton  tunic  over  it ;  a  cloth  jacket  in  some  cases,  an  "  abba  "  in  others, 
a  long  blouse  of  blue  cotton  in  most ;  cotton  drawers,  with  or  without 
the  luxury  of  colored  cotton  trousers,  short-legged,  over  them ;  the 
blouse  hiding  the  body,  even  when  it  is  the  only  garment — form  the 
limited  wardrobe  of  the  general  population.  The  sole  difference  with 
the  richer  people  is  a  finer  quality  of  the  material.  Women  seem  to 
have  merely  one  long  blue  cotton  sack,  neither  tight  nor  very  loose, 
its  sleeves  at  times  tied  over  the  head,  its  lower  part  reaching  the  feet. 
A  veil  hangs  from  their  eyes  down  their  breast,  though  at  times  a 
moustache- like  nose-veil  is  thought  enough,  while  at  others  even  the 

1  Homer  speaks  of  skin  bottles.  The  heralds  bore  the  covenant  sacrifices  of  the  gods  through 
the  city:  two  lambs,  and,  in  goat-skin  bottles,  the  wine  of  the  field  that  cheers  man  [Iliad,  rl. 
247). 


X.! 


ON  THE  WAY  TO  GERAR. 


135 


asses. 
)lored 
thers, 
thout 
the 
m  the 

with 
em  to 

loose, 
e  feet, 
mes  a 

jn  the 

through 

Kiod,  ri. 


brow  is  hidden  as  well  as  the  cheeks.  Arms  and  feet  are  bare  in  both 
sexes,  only  a  few  persons  using  leather  slippers,  without  backs  or  heels 
— for  the  boots  of  our  guide  were  a  »)henomenon,  secured,  no  doubt,  as 
a  gift  from  some  dignified  friend,  alter  they  had  served  him  faithfully 
till  lie  was  tired  of  them. 

The  sour  milk  which  we  passed,  carried  in  skin  bottles,  is  dear  to 
the  heart  of  all  natives.     They  call  it  "leben" — the  "halab"  known 
to  the  Hebrews  from  the  earliest  ages.     Milk,  indeed,  in  different  forms 
and  preparations,  was  a  main  article  of  food  among  the  ancient  Jews. 
Children  were  not  weaned,  at  least  in  some  cases,  till  they  were  three 
years  old,  as  is  expressly  stated  by  a  mother  in  Maccabees;^  but 
throughout  the  whole  of  life,  milk  of  the  herd  or  flock  continued  one 
of  the  great  staples  of  food ;    as  at  this  day  it  constitutes  almost  the 
sole  nourishment  of  the  Bedouin.     "Such  of  the  Arabs  of  the  central 
])ortion  of  the  great  desert  of  El-Tih  "  (on  the  south  of  Palestine),  says 
Prof.  E.  H.  Palmer,  "as  are  not  fortunate  enough  to  participate  in  the 
profits  of  conveying  the  pilgrim  caravan  across  the  desert  to  Akabah, 
on  its  way  from  Egypt  to  Meccah,  live  almost  entirely  on  the  milk  of 
their  sheep  and  camels.     In  many  other  parts  of  the  desert  milk  forms 
the  sole  article  of  diet  obtainable  by  the  Bedouin,  and  I  have  heard  a 
well-authenticated  case  of  an  Arab  in  the  north  of  Syria,  who  for  three 
years  had  not  tasted  either  water  or  solid  food.     So  long  as  the  flocks 
and  herds  can  find  an  abundance  of  succulent  herbage,  they  can  dis- 
pense to  a  great  extent  with  drink.    An  Arab,  therefore,  in  selecting 
a  spot  for  his  encampment,  regards  the  existence  of  a  good  supply  of 
pasturage  as  of  much  greater  importance  than  the  proximity  of  water."^ 
"  The  Arabs  inhabiting  the  mountains  of  Moab  are  essentially  a  pas- 
toral people,  though  they  do  cultivate  the  soil  to  a  slight  extent. 
Every  other  consideration  is,  therefore,  sacrificed  to  the  safety  and 
welfare  of  their  flocks  and  herds,  and  the  spots  selected  for  their 
encampments   are  nearly  always  the  most  elevated  portions  of  the 
plateau,  the  vicinity  of  which  affords  good  and  extensive  pasturage. 
These  are  necessarily  remote  from  the  streams  and  water-springs,  the 
small  amount  of  water  required  for  the  use  of  the  camp  being  brought 
by  the  women,  either  upon  donkeys'  backs  or  their  own.     Sour  or 
fresh  milk  is  always  plentiful,  and  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  visitor, 
but  often,  on  asking  for  a  drink  of  water,  I  have  found  that  such  a 
thing  has  not  been  seen  for  days  in  the  encampment."^     It  was  thus 
natural  for  Abraham  to  take  the  favorite  "sour,  curdled  milk" — "leben" 
— and  sweet  milk,  and  the  calf  which  he  had  dressed,  and  set  them 
before  his  guests.*     It  was,  in  fact,  precisely  the  same  welcome  as  a 
Bedouin  sheikh  now  gives  to  strangers  he  wishes  to  honor — a  calf 
being  the  rare  sign  of  high  distinction  substituted  for  the  more  ordi- 

1  2  Mace.  vii.  27.   2  Palmer,  Deaert  qf  the  Exodni,  i.  294.   3  Ibid.,  i.  488.   4  Gen.  xvili.  8. 


186 


THE   HOLY  LAND   AND   THE  BIBLE. 


[Cbap. 


nary  male  kid.^  That  "  the  teeth  "  of  Judah  should  be  "  white  with 
milk,"  was  just  such  a  blessing  as  the  patriarch  Jacob,  a  "plain  man 
dwelling  in  tents," ^  would  think  best  worth  giving.  "Curdled  milk 
of  kine,  and  milk  of  sheep,"  ^  were  declared  special  glories  of  the  Land 
in  the  last  song  of  Moses ;  and  it  was  exactly  what  an  Arab  woman 
would  have  done  to-day  when  Jael,  on  Sisera's  asking  for  "a  little 
water,  because  lie  was  thirsty,"  opened  a  skin  of"leben"and  gave 
him  drink.  Perhaps  it  was  an  undesigned  aid  to  her  contemplated 
treachery  that  this  favorite  beverage,  as  I  have  already  noticed,  is 
strongly  sopori^xC.  A  clergyman  who  drank  freely  of  it  in  a  Bedouin 
camp,  when  suf^iering  much  from  sleeplessness  and  nervous  excitement, 
brought  on  by  great  fatigue,  was  so  overcome  by  its  drowsy  effects 
that,  after  resting  for  half  an  hour,  it  was  only  with  the  greatest  diffi- 
culty he  roused  himself  to  continue  his  journey.*  Jael  may,  however, 
have  had  no  water  to  give  her  unfortunate  guest,  so  that  possibly  we 
may  acquit  her  of  astute  contrivance  in  this  particular.  Ilor  craft  and 
falseness  are  bad  enougii  without  any  ji,a"<>ravation;  glorious,  perhaps, 
in  the  eyes  of  a  contemporary  like  Deborah,  with  elementary  ideas  of 
right  and  wrong,  and  lauded,  by  the  black-eyed  women  of  the  tents, 
who  were  oidy  rough  Arabs  of  more  than  3,000  years  ago,  but  very 
far  from  the  morality  of  the  New  Testament.  "  The  principal  things 
for  the  whole  use  of  man's  life,"  says  the  Son  of  Sirach,  ''  are  water, 
fire,  iron,  and  salt,  flour  of  wheat,  honej'-,  milk,  the  blood  of  the  grape, 
and  oil,  and  clothing;"*''  so  that  flour,  honey,  milk,  and  oil  embraced 
all  the  solid  food  of  his  Hebrew  fellow-countrymen  in  this  wonderfully 
wise  writer's  day.  Flesh  is  not  even  mentioned,  nor  are  vegetables. 
That  the  Land  should  be  so  often  glorified  as  "flowing  with  milk  and 
honey"  implies  the  same  notions  of  living.^ 

As  }t  cannot  be  doubted  that  milk-farming  is  conducted  still  in  the 
same  way  as  for  thousands  of  years  past,  it  is  to  be  assumed  that  *he 
Hebrews  made  not  only  different  kinds  of  cheese,  the  skimmed  and 
the  rich,  but  also  butter,  though  I  hope  they  took  more  care  in  freeing , 
it  from  hairs  and  other  defilements  than  is  usual  with  the  peasants  or 
Arabs  of  to-day.  No  churns,  however,  are  employed,  as  our  version 
would  seem  to  imply,'  where  it  speaks  of  the  "churning  of  butter." 
The  milk  is  merely  shaken  backwards  and  forwards  in  a  goat-skin 
bottle  hung  between  poles,  or  pressed  to  and  fro,  first  in  one  direction 
and  then  in  another,  till  the  globules  of  fat  are  separated.  The 
Bedouins  make  great  use  of  the  butter  thus  obtained,  which  is  rather 
fat  or  o'l  in  so  warm  a  climate,  pouring  it  over  their  bread,  or  dipping 

1  Palmer,  Desert  of  the  Exodus,  i.  489.  8  Gen.  xlix.  12;  xxv.  27.  2  Deut.  xxxil.  14.  4  Neil, 
P(Ueai7ie  Explored,  p.  12.  6  Ecclus.  xxxix.  26,  written  about  b.  c.  199.  Riehm,  p.  726.  6  Ex.  ili. 
8,  17;  xill.  5;  xxxifl.  3;  Cant.  Iv.  11;  v.  1;  Joel  ill.  18;  Num.  xiil.  27;  xlv.  8;  xvl.  13,  14;  Deut. 
vi.  3;  xi.  9;  zzvi.  15;  xzvli.  3;  xxxi.  20;  Josh.  v.  6;  Jer.  xi.  6;  xxxii.  22 ;  £zek.  xx.  6, 15.  7  Prov. 
XXX.  83. 


V.ie 


er." 
kin 
tion 
The 
her 
iiig 

iNell, 
Ix.  ill. 
iDeut. 
iProv. 


Site  of  the  Anc'^^nt  Beeraheba.   (See  page  159.) 


X.1 


ON  THE  WAY  TO  GERAR. 


187 


' 


the  bread  in  it.^  Cheese,  also,  is  made  by  them  in  large  quantities, 
but  it  is  very  inferior;  little  more,  in  fact,  than  curdled  milk.  A 
quantity  of  sour  milk,  or  "leben,"  is  put  in  a  goat-skin  bottle,  and 
snaken  till  the  whey  separates  and  can  be  poured  out.  Then  more 
sour  milk  is  added,  and  the  shaking  and  emptying  of  the  whey  con- 
tinue  till  cheese  enough  is  provided.  This,  when  afterwards  dried  in 
the  sun,  is  much  used  to  mix  with  water  as  a  cooling  and  strengthen- 
ing drink  on  journeys,  or  is  put  into  flour  to  make  cheesecakes,  in 
which  shape  it  is  a  very  concentrated  form  of  food,  easily  carried 
about.'^  Shaw  tells  us  that  in  Barbary,  "instead  of  rennet,  especially 
in  the  summer  season,  they  turn  the  milk  with  the  flowers  of  the 
great-headed  thistle,  or  wild  artichoke,  and  putting  the  curds  after- 
wards into  small  baskets  made  with  rushes,  or  with  the  dwarf  palm, . 
they  bind  them  up  close  and  press  them.  These  cheeses  are  rui-ely 
above  two  or  three  pounds  in  weight,  and  in  shape  and  size  like  our 
penny  loaves."^  May  the  ten  cheeses  carried  by  David  to  his  brothers 
in  Saul's  camp  have  been  of  this  kind?*  In  the  unchanging  East  it 
is  very  probable.  The  making  of  butter  among  the  Berbers  may  also 
help  us  to  realise  the  mode  used  in  Bible  times,  as  it  is  identical^  with 
the  practice  of  the  Arabs  in  Palestine  at  the  present  day. 

At  about  five  miles  from  Gaza  we  had  to  cross  the  torrent-bed 
known  as  Wady  Ghuzzeh;  a  veritable  dry  river-bed,  with  banks  cut 
deep  through  the  sandy  earth,  and  a  broad  level  channel  between. 
Quite  dry  when  I  rode  my  horse  across  it,  no  better  illustration  of  "  a 
deceitful  brook  "  could  be  imagined,  though  Job's  words  more  strictly 
mean,  "My  brethren  have  deceived  me  like  a  torrent-bed  " — Expect- 
ing water  I  have  found  none;  "as  the  rush  of  water  in  torrent- beds, 
their  friendship  has  passed  away."*^  It  helped  one  also  to  understand 
the  cry  of  the  Psalmist :  ''  Turn  again,"  or  rather,  "  Cause  to  return 
again  our  captivity,  as  streams  of  rushing  water  return  to  the  dry  beds 
of  the  wadys  in  the  Negeb,"'^  the  very  region  in  which  I  was  travelling. 
The  country,  without  its  people,  was  then  like  the  wady  as  I  saw  it; 
would  that  they  might  return  to  it  in  tumultuous,  multitudinous  force, 
like  the  torrent  that  in  winter  would  fill  the  wady  in  all  its  breadth  ! 

We  are  apt  to  imagine  that  "  wilderness  "  in  the  Bible  is  the  same 
as  desert,  but  it  really  means,  even  etymologically,  only  a  region  given 
up  to  wild  creatures,*  and  although  used  by  our  translators  as  the 
equivalent  of  five  different  Hebrew  words,  it  often  stands  rather  for  a 
pastoral  region,  such  as  the  district  from  Gaza  south,  than  for  an  arid 
waste.  The  fact  is,  all  the  open  country  of  the  plains,  the  Sheplielah, 
or  the  Negeb,  is  pasture  and  wilderness  by  turn;  spring  covering  it 

1  The  two  words  In  Hebrew  for  milk,  "halab"  and  "heraah,"  often  leave  It  doubtful  whether 
sour  milk,  "leben,"  or  sweet,  Is  Intended.  2  Burckhardt,  2Vovcte,  p.  697.  NIebuhr,  if«>c«,  II.  873. 
3  Shaw,  Travels,  1.  308.  The  first  edition  was  published  in  1788,  In  folio.  4  l  Sam.  xvli.  18 
5  Shaw,  Travels,  i.  308.   6  Job  vi.  16.   7  Fa.  cxxvi.  4.   8  From  A.-S.  ''wilder"— a  wild  animal. 


188 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  THli:  BIBLE. 


[CdAP. 


M 


with  thin  grass  and  a  bright  tapestry  of  flowers,  but  the  hot  suiDiner 
burning  up  one  part  after  another,  so  that  shepherds  have  ever  to  lead 
their  nocKs  to  new  distriets,  the  wonder  being  liow,  in  soino  of  tliese, 
the  creatures  find  enough  to  Iceei)  them  ahve.^  "Tlje  pastures  of  the 
wilderness,"^  tlierefore,  includetl  such  tiacts  as  those  througli  which  I 
was  passing;  the  very  region  in  which  Isaac  spent  his  long  Mhepherd 
life ;  flocks  of  sheep  and  goats  and  herds  of  cattle  on  every  slope  show- 
ing how  rich  it  is  in  spring,  though  in  the  hot  months  t!i'i  Arab  tents 
would  be  moved  to  other  parts  of  the  country,  where,  from  experience, 
it  was  known  that  herbage  would  be  longer  green. 

It  was  delightful  to  ride  on  through  the  fresh  air,  with  the  boundless 
horizon  all  to  one's  self  but  for  a  stray  human  figure  or  a  small  Arab 
encampment.  I  had  admirable  opportunities  for  studying  the  shepherd 
of  Isaac's  district,  and  he  certainly  was  not  very  poetical.  One  ragged 
Arab  in  an  "abba,"  tending  some  sheep  and  goats,  told  us  how  one  of 
the  latter  had  been  stolen  from  him  by  a  man  of  another  tribe ;  how 
he  had  traced  it,  and  got  back,  not  only  the  goat,  but  its  worth  in 
money.  But  this  did  not  content  him,  for  revenge  is  sweet  even  in  the 
wilderness  of  Gerar.  lie  was  on  the  look-out  for  a  horse  or  camel  of 
the  ofl'ending  tribesman,  or  of  one  of  his  encampment,  and  when  he 
found  one  he  would  steal  it!  Another  shepherd,  armed  with  two 
pistols  and  a  lorg-barrelled  gun,  stood  playing  on  a  reed  pipe  to  a  large 
flock  of  sheep  and  goats,  which  followed  the  music  as  he  stalked  slowly 
on  before.  It  may  have  been  that  the  simple  reed  pipe — one  or  two 
lengths  of  thick  reed,  pierced  with  holes,  and  closed  at  the  top  by  a 
piece  of  smaller  diameter,  one  side  of  which  was  cut  through  to  cause 
vibration — was  "the  organ"  invented  by  Jubal,^  but,  if  so,  it  had 
remained  exceedingly  primitive.  Its  compass  was  only  a  few  changes 
in  a  higher  or  decjier  drone,  sim])ly  distressing  to  unaccustomed  ears. 
It  was  clearly,  however,  a  deliglit  to  the  sons  of  the  desert,*  and 
formed  in  ancient  times,  with  the  harp"*  and  timbrel,^  the  music  of 
the  dance  before  the  tents,  when  the  herds  and  flocks  had  come  home, 
or  of  shepherds  amusing  themselves  on  the  pastures.  Each  sex,  it 
must  be  understood,  still  dances  alone.  To  see  the  sheep  following  the 
shepherd  brought  back  to  one's  mind  the  words  of  our  Lord,  especially 
when  I  found  that  the  he-goat,  or  ram,  which  led  the  flock,  and  some 
others  that  followed  the  shepherd  closely,  had  a  name  to  which  they 
answered  when  called  by  him:  "The  sheep  hear  his  voice,  and  he 
calleth  his  own  sheep  by  name,  and  leadeth  them  out."'^  As  there 
are  no  fences,  and  many  flocks,  it  is  necessary  that  each  flock  should 
learn  to  folloAV  its  own  shepherd  ;  nor  must  it  wander  off  to  the  open 
patches  of  wheat  or  barley,  as  it  would  if  not  thus  trained.      To  go 

1  "Mitlbiir,"  the  usual  word  for  wilderness  available  for  pasture,  comes  from  a  root,  "to drive" 
—that  is.  to  drive  flocks  or  herds.  2  Ps.  Ixv.  12 ;  Joel  ii.  22.  3  Gen.  iv.  21.  4  Job  xxi.  li.  5  1  Sam. 
xvi.  16.    6  Job  xxi.  12.    7  John  x.  3. 


x.i 


ON   THE   WAV    TO   OKUAH. 


189 


*    and 


111  they 

md  he 

there 

Ishould 

|e  open 

To  go 

Ito  drive" 
15  1  Sam. 


astray  in  tlio  open  plain  brings  danger,  for  a  lost  sheep  is  a  ready  prey 
to  some  chance  wild  beast  from  the  inountuins.  But  if  it  be  lost  in 
the  desolate  hills  its  destruction  is  almost  certain  if  it  bo  not  found 
again,  for  there  wolves  and  jackals  abound,  while  leopards  still  prowl 
in  the  hills  of  Gilead,  in  those  round  the  Dead  Sea,  and  about  Carmel 
and  the  hills  of  Galilee.  Anciently  indeed  these  fierce  creatures  se 
to  have  been  numerous,  for  we  read  of  a  town  called  Beth  Nim^a, "  -ne 
House  of  the  Leopard,"^  and  the  stream  that  runs  past  it  is  to  this  day 
called  "Nahr  Nimrin,"  "the  River  of  the  Leopards."  There  was 
another,  Nimrin,  "  the  Leopards,"  in  Moab,^  while  Canticles  speaks  of 
"the  Mountains  of  the  Leopard,"^  and  we  find  a  place  called 
"Nimeirah"  at  the  south  of  the  Dead  Sea.  If  the  shepherd  sees  a 
sheep  or  goat  wandering,  he  calls  it  back;  but  should  it  still  keep  on 
its  course,  he  hurls  a  stone  from  his  sling,  so  as  to  fall  just  beyond  it 
and  frightened  it  back  to  the  flock. 

The  fidelity  of  Eastern  shepherds  to  their  flocks  is  proverbial.  Not 
a  few  manage  to  obtain  an  old  long-barelled  gun,  or  a  pistol,  especially 
in  districts  exposed  to  the  Bedouins,  as  for  instance  to  the  south  of 
Gaza;  but  most  of  them  have,  in  addition,  a  strong  oaken  club- or 
bludgeon,  two  feet  or  more  in  length,  its  round  or  oblong  head  stuck 
full  of  heavy  iron  nails :  a  terrible  weapon  in  the  hands  of  a  strong, 
brave  man.  A  loop  at  the  handle  serves  to  hang  it  to  the  "leathern 
girdle  "^  universally  worn  by  peasants  and  the  humbler  classes,  to 
bind  together  the  unbleached  cotton  shirt  which  is  their  whole  dresa 
by  day.  When  it  is  passed  over  the  wrist,  this  loop  is  also  a  security 
that  the  weapon  shall  not  be  lost,  even  if  knocked  out  of  the  hand  in  a 
struggle.  I  was  struck,  when  encamped  on  the  Hill  of  Samaria,  with 
the  dangerous  look  of  this  club.  The  people  around  bear  an  indiflfer* 
ent  name,  so  that  watchmen  had  been  appointed,  without  my  knowl- 
edge, to  protect  the  tent.  That  two  peasants  should  be  prowling 
around  it  in  the  darkness  seemed  awkward.  Why  were  they  doing 
so?  To  settle  the  matter  I  rose  and  went  out  in  the  dark  to  the  nearer 
of  the  two.  In  a  moment,  pushing  aside  his  "  abba,"  his  presence  was 
explained  by  the  production  of  a  bludgeon  with  a  head  as  large  as  a 
melon,  and  rough  with  iron — a  common  shepherd's  club  extemporized 
into  a  policeman's  baton!  He  pointed  to  it  and  to  the  houses  near,  and 
I  at  once  understood  his  office.  On  the  lonely  unfenced  hills  and  stony 
mountains,  the  danger  that  wild  beasts  will  attack  the  flock  is  always 
sufficient,  to  make  a  careful  guard  necessary.  The  yell  of  the  hyena 
and  the  shriek  of  the  jackal  may,  even  at  this  day,  be  heard  close  to 
Jerusalem,  and  venomous  snakes  are  common  in  the  hot  season.  The 
limestone  rocks  and  chalky  hills  afford  the  serpent  tribe  the  very  haunts 

1  Num.  xxxU.  3,  S6.  The  same  as  Bethabara.  "  the  House  of  the  Ford,"  where  John  baptized- 
Nimrin  also  means  "Clear  Waters."  2  Isa.  xv.  6;  Jer.  xlviii,  8i  3  Cant.  Iv.  8.  4  Matt.  ill.  4; 
Mark  1. 6. 


.x.^.      I 


140 


illK    llol.N     LAND    ANh   TIIK    HIHIiii:. 


((;iui>. 


I    " 


they  love,  iiiul  in  MUiiiiiicr  tliey  Itecoiiie  very  dan^erouH.  Tl»e  doudly 
cobm — perliiipH  the  ''asji"  ol'  the  liible  ;  the  viper  in  two  vurietieti, 
and  Hix  other  poisonous  snakes,  are  more  or  leHseonimon;  one  of  titoni, 
the  horned  snaUe,  only  twelve  or  eighteen  inehos  h)ng,  being  so  deadly 
that  a  man  bitten  by  it  dies  in  iudt' an  hour.  Besides  these,  t)io  shop- 
herd  has  to  guard  against  huge  birds  of  prey,  whieh  swoop  down  on  a 
stray  kid  or  lamb,  and  need  all  the  vigor  of  the  shepherd  to  beat  them 
oft".  But  none  of  these  foes  terrify  tlie  bravo  protector  of  the  floek, 
who,  if  it  be  small,  is  generally  its  owner,  or  one  of  the  family, — lor 
though  "hirelings"  are  necessary  when  Hocks  are  large,  they  cannot 
always  be  trusted.  "  He  that  is  an  hireling,  and  not  the  shepherd, 
whose  own  the  sheep  are  not,  sceth  the  wolf  coming,  and  leaveth  the 
sheep,  and  fleeth:  and  the  wolf  catcheth  them,  and  soattei*eth  tiie 
sheep."^  "  But  the  good  shepherd  knows  his  sheep,  and  is  known  by 
them,  and  is  willing  to  lay  down  his  life  for  Ijm  sheep."''  Tliore  are 
no  lions  in  Palestine  now,  and  bears  are  only  st  en  in  the  upper  gorges 
of  Lebanon,  but  the  shepherds  of  to-day  are  ofte  i  as  manly  and  faith  fid 
as  David,  long  ago,  when  he  went  out,  single-lui  ided,  at  one  time  after 
a  lion,  and  at  another  after  a  bear,  and  delivereu  the  lambs  out  of  their 
mouths,  catching  tlio  lion  bv  the  heard  when  it  turned  on  him,  and 
smiting  and  slaying  it."*  "The  Arabs,"  says  Thevenot,  "fear  a  lion  so 
little  that  they  often  pursue  him  with  only  a  olub  in  their  hand,  and 
kill  him."'* 

But  wild  beasts  are  not  the  only  danger  to  a  flock.  The  hills  abound 
in  caves  and  hiding-places  which  are  often  the  resort  of  robbers,  and 
the  wandering  Bedouins,  in  their  black  tents,  are  always  ready  to  steal 
goats,  sheep,  or  cattle  when  opportunity  oflfers.  In  a  country  so  thinly 
populated,  moreover,  the  shepherd  often  can  only  trust  to  his  single- 
Iianded  bravery  to  defend  his  charge  if  the  thief  approach.  Indeed,  it 
is  necessary  in  some  parts  still  to  pay  blackmail  to  the  roving  Arabs 
to  keep  them  from  driving  off  herds  and  flocks  alike.  It  is  so  round 
Kerak,  in  Moab,  the  sheepmasters  of  which  give  so  much  a  year  to  the 
Bedouin  sheikhs  as  a  security  that  these  hereditary  thieves  will  not 
harry  the  folds :  a  state  of  things  exactly  like  that  of  which  David 
speaks  when  he  reproaches  Nabal  at  Carmel,  in  the  Negeb,  for  refus- 
ing his  followers  food  and  refreshment.  "  I  have  heard,"  says  he, 
"that  thou  hast  shearera:  now  thy  shepherds  who  were  with  us,  we 
hurt  them  not,  neither  was  there  ought  missing  unto  them  all  the  while 
they  were  in  Carmel."^  Not  to  have  attacked  the  shepherds  and  car- 
ried off  their  sheep  was  held  to  entitle  the  Adullam  band  that  fol- 
lowed David  to  a  liberal  recompense.  There  was,  however,  a  better 
ground  for  claiming  bounty,  for  the  sturdy  claimants  had,  besides,  been 
"  a  wall  to  Nabal's  men,  both  by  night  and  day,"  protecting  them  from 

1  John  X.  12.    2  John  x.  14. 15.    3  1  Sam.  xvii.  35.    4  Rosenrnttller,  A.  u.  N.  MorgaOemd^  iU.  45, 
wbere  various  oases  of  like  bravery  are  given.  6  1  Sam.  xxv.  7. 


XJ 


ON  THK   WAY  To  OKUAK. 


141 


attack  by  other  bnndH.*  Slioplierds,  even  now,  tell  siinilnr  talcH  of 
their  encomit'TH  with  beiistH  or  witli  roblxirH,  or  <tt' their  |ir.,terlion  by 
fVieiully  eiiciiinpmeiita,  as  their  predecesHors  <li(l  tliouHiiiids  of  years  ago. 
1  heard  of  a  case  which  happened  only  a  short  time  since,  where  a  poor  " 
fellow  defended  his  flock  ho  valiantly  against  stweral  Hedouin  rol)l)er8 
that  he  died  of  his  wounds  in  the  midst  of  his  sheep.  The  good  shep- 
herd still  "giveth  his  life  for  the  sheep."'-* 

Shepherds  often,  like  ilacob,  or  like  the  shepherds  of  Bethlehem, 
abide  in  the  field,  or  open  country,  keeping  watch  over  their  flock  by 
night;''  tlie  parching  drougiit  consuming  tiieni  by  day  and  the  frost 
bv  night.*      In  the  early  spring,  the  best  pasturage  is  on  the  sea-coust 

f Mains;  but  as  the  heat  increases,  the  Hooks,  as  1  have  said,  are  driven 
liglier  and  higher,  till  the  hot  summer  finds  them  on  the  tops  of  the 
mountains.  When  no  Hheej)fold  is  near,  a  ring  of  thorny  bushes  is 
heaped  up,  but  the  wolf,  after  all,  may  leap  into  the  guarded  circle, 
though  the  dogs  of  the  flock  be  watching  outside.  On  the  lowland 
plains  the  ruins  of  ancient  towns  and  cities  supply  stones  for  permanent 
folds,  the  walls  of  which  are  often  protected  by  a  ring  of  thorns  laid 
above  them.  A  slight,  shelter  near  at  hand  is  frequently  all  the  pro- 
tection through  the  night  for  their  guaitlians;  indeed,  in  the  highest 
ridges  of  Lebanon,  far  above  human  habitations,  they  often  have  to 
content  themselves  with  the  shelter  of  some  slight  bend  in  the  ground, 
setting  stones  around  it,  and  strewing  rushes  within,  for  a  bed.  A  fire 
kindled  in  the  centre,  so  that  they  can  lie  witlr  their  feet  to  it,  is  their 
only  comfort,  and  their  furniture  consists  of  nothing  more  than  a  few 
pots  and  pans,  some  sheep-skins  and  old  rugs,  under  charge  of  faithful 
dogs  during  the  day,  when  the  shepherds  are,  perhaps,  miles  away. 
In  the  south  they  often  sleep  in  the  open  air  throughout  the  year. 

With  the  dawn  of  day  the  shepherds  wake,  and  each  of  them  "put- 
teth  forth  "  his  own  sheep,  counting  them  as  he  lets  them  pass  slowly 
out  under  his  rod,  through  the  one  doorway.  To  help  him  in  doing  so 
"he  calleth  his  own  sheep  by  name,  and  leadeth  them  out,"*  for  flocks 
of  different  shepherds  may  have  rested  through  the  night  in  the  same 
fold.  Unlike  the  thief  or  robber,  who  stealthily  climbs  the  wall,  he 
goes  in  through  the  door  to  bring  out  his  flock  ;  the  shepherd  who  for 
the  time  is  acting  as  gate-keeper  gladly  opening  to  him  as  he 
approaches.  Once  outside,  he  begins  his  daily  march  at  the  head  of 
his  goats  and  sheep,  the  old  he-goats  and  rams,  which,  often  decked 
with  bells,  lead  the  rest,  keeping  close  behind  him,  like  so  many  dogs. 
It  is  one  of  the  amusements  of  his  monotonous  day  to  play  with  them 
at  times,  for  they  are  his  only  comp  nions.  Pretending  to  run  away, 
he  will  soon  be  overtaken  and  surrounded  by  the  sheep;  setting  out  to 
climb  the  rocks,  he  is  presently  followed  by  the  goats,  and  at  last, 

1 1  Sam.  XXV.  15. 16.   2  John  x.  11.   S  Luke.il.  8.    4  Qen.  xxxl.  40.    6  John  x.  8. 


142 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AKD  THE  BIBLE. 


[Chap. 


when  he  rests,  all  the  flock — goats  and  sheep  alike — circle  round  him, 
gambolling  in  delight.  Such  a  picture  enables  us  to  read  with  fresh 
^joy  how  Jehovah  leads  His  people  like  a  flock,  for  so  He  led  them 
once  "  by  the  hand  of  Moses  and  Aaron."  ^  In  the  hill-country — and 
most  of  Palestine  is  hillv — the  natural  caves  of  the  rocks,  once  the 
dwellings  of  the  ancient  Horites,  are  the  common  folds,  as  they  were 
in  the  old  days  when  Saul,  in  pursuing  David,  "  eame  to  the  sheepcotes 
by  the  way,  where  w^as  a  cave."  ^  Across  the  Jordan,  on  the  other 
hand,  where  caves  s:re  not  to  be  had,  Heuben  determined  to  "  build 
sheepfolds  for  their  cattle."  ^ 

In  the  mountains,  cleft  as  they  often  are  by  narrow,  impassable 
ravines,  a  sheep  may  easily  wander  too  near  the  edge,  and  be  in  danger 
of  falling  into  the  gloomy  depth  below.  Dr.  Duff  noticed  an  interest- 
ing incident  associated  with  such  a  scene.  "When  on  a  narrow 
bridle-path,"  says  he,  "  cut  out  on  the  face  of  a  precipitous  ridge,  I 
observed  a  native  shepherd  with  his  flock,  which,  as  usual,  followed 
him.  He  froq  aently  stopped  and  looked  back  ;  and  if  he  saw  a  sheep 
creeping  up  too  far,  or  coming  too  near  the  edge,  would  go  back,  and, 

Eutting  the  crook  round  one  of  its  hind  legs,  would  gently  pull  it  to 
im."*  This  is  the  shepherd's  staff';  sometimes  bent,  thus,  into  a 
crook,  but  more  commonly  a  long,  stoi^t,  straight  oak  stick,  often  cased 
at  its  lower  end  in  iron,  to  beat  off'  the  thief  or  wild  beast.  This  staff' 
to  help  and  the  club  to  protect  are  the  staff*  and  the  rod  with  which 
God  comforts  His  people.^ 

In  lambing-time  the  greatest  care  of  his  flock  is  taken  by  the  shep- 
herd. The  ewes  are  driven  slowly,  to  prevent  their  being  injured,* 
and  you  will  often  see  the  shepherd  carrying  a  lamb  under  his  arm, 
and  others  in  the  bosom  of  his  cotton  shirt,  the  girdle  making  a 
'jiocket  of  it ;  just  as  Highland  shepherds  carry  helpless  lambs  in  the 
folds  of  their  plaids.  So  the  prophet  pictures  the  Messiah :  "  He  shall 
feed  His  flock  like  a  shepherd :  He  shall  gather  the  lambs  with  His 
arm,  and  carry  them  in  His  bosom,  and  shall  gently  lead  those  that 
are  with  young." '  As  the  shepherd  does  so,  he  often  calls  them,  if 
necessary;  but,  indeed,  they  know  him  so  well  that  they  commonly 
follow  close  behind  of  their  own  accord.  It  would  be  idle,  however, 
for  one  unknown  to  them  to  take  the  shepherd's  place  :  "  A  stranger 
will  they  not  follow,  but  will  flee  from  him :  for  they  know  not  the 
voice  of  a  stranger."  ®  Anyone  who  visits  Palestine  may  readily  find 
with  what  truth  this  picture  is  painted. 

It  is  common  to  see  a  shepherd  followed  bv  separate  flocks,  one  of 
goats  and  the  other  of  sheep,  which  he  has  divided  one  from  another 
to  lead  them  to  some  part  where  each  will  find  the  pasture  it  prefers. 

1  Fs.  Ixxvil.  20:  Ixxx.  1.    2  1  Sam.  xxiv.  3.    3  Num.  xxxii.  16.    ^Lifeqf  Dr.  Duff,  ii.  165.    5  Fs. 
zzlU  4.   6  Gen.  xxxiil.  13.   7  Isa.  xl.  11.   8  Jobn  z.  5. 


X.] 


ON  THE  WAY   TO  GERAR. 


143 


shep- 
ired,® 
arm, 
ing  a 
1  the 
shall 
iHis 
1  that 
em,  if 
monly 
wever, 
ranger 
lot  the 
y  find 


The  goat  thrives  best  on  rocky  slopes,  and  is  so  fond  of  young  leaves 
that  he  seeks  them  above  all  things,  sometime'^  even  managing  to  get 
up  into  a  tree  to  obtain  them,  whereas  sheep  prefer  the  fresh  grass  of 
the  plains  or  mountains.  Hence  the  west  side  of  Palestine,  from  Heb- 
ron to  Hermon,  with  its  bushy  and  grassless  hills,  is  specially  suited 
lor  the  goat,  while  the  eastern  table-land,  beyond  the  Jordan,  destitute 
of  trees  or  underwood,  but  rich  in  short  grass  and  herbs,  is  the  para- 
disoiof  sheep;  as  tlie  coast-plains  of  Sharon  and  Philistia,  doited  with 
spots  in  which  the  grass  is  specially  strong  and  full  of  sap,  have,  in 
all"  ages,  been  specially  adapted  for  cattle.^  But  there  are  many  parts 
where  both  slieep  and  goats  can  be  pastured  by  the  same  shepherd,  so 
that  it  is  not  uncommon  to  see  a  flock  of  black  goats  feeding  in  the 
open  scMib,  while  a  flock  of  white  sheep  nibble  the  grass  a  little  way 
off;  the  shepherd  standing  midway  between  the  two  to  watch  both.  I 
could  never  witness  this  without  thinking  how  our  Lord  must  have 
taken  i:ote  of  it  in  His  journeys,  as  is  shown  in  His  awful  words 
respecting  the  goals  beirg  set  on  the  left  hand,  and  the  sheep  on  the 
right,  at  the  Great  Day.' 

Goats  feed  all  day  long,  seldom  thinking  of  the  heat  or  seekiiig 
shade,  and  are  led  into  the  frld  at  night,  to  be  brought  out  again  in 
the  morning.  It  is  only  in  the  cool  months,  on  the  contrary,  th a ; 
sheep  feed  through  the  day.  In  the  greater  part  of  the  year  they  are 
led  out  to  ])asture  only  towards  sunst- 1,  returning  home  in  the  morning, 
or  if  they  be  led  out  in  the  morning  they  lie  during  the  hot  hours  in 
the  shade  of  som.e  tree  or  rock,  or  in  the  rude  shelter  of  bushes  pre- 
pared for  them.^  They  are  taken  into  the  warmth  of  caves  or  under 
other  cover  during  the  coldest  part  of  winter;  the  lambs  are  born 
between  January  and  the  beginning  of  March,  and  need  to  be  kept 
with  the  ewes  in  the  field  that  the  mothers  may  get  nutriment  enough 
to  support  the  poor  weak  creatures,  which  cannot  be  taken  to  and  from 
the  '  pasturage,  but  must  remain  on  it.  That  many  of  them  die  is 
inevitable,  in  spite  of  the  shepherd's  utmost  care,  for  snow  and  frost  on 
the  uplands,  and  heavy  ram  on  the  plains,  are  very  fatal  to  them.  Nor 
is  their  guardian  less  to  be  pitied.  He  cannot  leave  them,  day  or  night, 
and  often  has  no  shelter.  At  times,  when  on  his  weary  watch,  he  may 
be  able  to  gather  branches  enough  to  make  a  comparatively  dry  spot 
on  which  to  stand  in  the  wild  weather,  but  this  is  not  always  the  case. 
I  have  heard  of  the  skin  peeling  completely  from  a  poor  man's  feet, 
from  continued  exposure.  By  night,  as  we  have  seen,  he  has  often,  in 
outlying  places,  to  sleep  on  whatever  brush  he  may  gather ;  his  sheep- 
skin coat,  or  an  old  rug  or  coverlet,  his  only  protection.  Perhaps  it 
fared  thus  with  the  shepherds  of  Bethlehem,  eighteen  hundred  years 
ago,  when  they  were  "  abiding  in  the  field,  keeping  watch  over  their 
flock  by  night."  * 
;2KJngsHI,4?8qhroi».jc?v},;p.  ?  ^fj^^t,  wv.  9?,  5?.  ?CwH,|.7.  i(m9W,^Vir 


144 


THE  HOLY   LAND   AND  THE  BIBLE. 


[Chap. 


IN 


! 


It  is  at  this  season,  moreover,  amidst  the  storms  and  rains  of  winter, 
that  the  jackal  and  the  wolf  are  specially  alert,  as  in  old  times  was 
the  lion,  which  came  up  from  the  thickets  of  Jordan.  The  shepherd 
may  have  found  shelter  in  some  rude  mud  cabin;  his  Jjeep  feeding 
outside,  the  bells  on  tlie  necks  of  tlieir  leaders  tinkling  as  they  do  so. 
The  dogs,  drenched  and  sleepy,  seek  the  shelter  of  any  bush  or  tree. 
Thick  darkness  rests  around.  Sleep  above  all  things  is  needed  by  the 
shepherd,  but  he  dares  not  rest.^  From  time  to  time  he  anxiously 
shouts  to  the  dogs,  to  keep  them  awake.     A  rush  of  sheep  takes 

f)lace;  the  dogs  give  angry  voice;  it  may  be  the  wolf.  The  shep- 
lerd  is  at  once  out  to  call  back  his  flock,  and  to  drive  off  the  wild 
beast,  if  the  alarm  has  been  well  founded.  The  good  shepherd  has  no 
thought  for  himself  but  only  for  his  trust.  In  Bible  ages  towers  were 
often  built  i^  the  centre  of  tlu;  fold,  when  it  was  large,  so  that  the 
shepherds  might  offer  a  better  defence,  when  their  flocks  were 
around  them,  within  the  guardian  wall,^  and  in  this  case  ol  sourse  they 
were  ])rotocted,  more  or  less  from  the  weather;  but  few  could  have 
been  thus  fortunate. 

Yet  there  is  a  bright  as  well  as  a  dark  side  to  the  shepherd's  life. 
No  occuj)ation  could  be  more  delightful  to  the  simple  mind  to  which 
the  flock  is  the  chief  concern  in  the  universe,  than  when  he  leads  forth 
his  sheep  or  goats  to  green  pastures,  and  beside  still  waters  as  they 
glide  over  the  stones  in  some  still-flowing  brook.^  The  patient  sheep 
follow  meekly ;  even  among  the  lively  goats  some  do  so,  and  the  rest 
follow  them.  His  charge  once  busy  feeding,  the  shepherd  can  take  his 
pipe  and  play  artless  melodies,  or  cheer  himself  by  his  simple  songs. 
In  the  rare  case  of  genius,  the  glory  of  the  mornirg  or  evening  may 
wake  liigher  aspirations,  as  it  once  did  in  the  soul  of  David,  calling 
forth  some  of  his  wondrous  Psalms,  first  sung  to  h^a  own  accompani- 
ment on  the  harp  which  he  had  himself  invented.*  In  the  burning  heat  of 
noon,  on  the  treeless  plain  or  hill-s'de,^  the  shepherd  leads  the  sheep 
to  the  shadow  of  some  great  rock  in  the  weary  land,  as  I  have  often 
seen ;  tl:e  panting  creatures  pressing  close  to  the  cold  stone,  alike  for 
deeper  shadow  and  to  feel  its  natural  coolness.®  Often,  indeed,  in 
these  overpowering  hours,  I  have  noticed  them  crowding  into  the  open 
caves  which  abound  everywhere  in  the  chalky  hills.  When  evening 
falls  they  follow  their  guide  to  the  nearest  well,  if  there  be  no  running 
water — not  unfrequently  to  find  other  flocks  before  them.  In  such  a  case 
strife  as  to  priority  often  arises,  in  a  land  where  water  is  tio  scarce;  as 
in  the  old  days  with  the  "  herdmen  of  Abram's  cattle"  and  those  of 
the  cattle  of  Lot,'^  or  with  t:  e  Philistine  herdsmen  of  Gerar  and  those 

1  Nah.  lii.  IR  2  Isa.  i.  8:  "a  besieged  city"  Is  translated  by  HItzIg, " a  shepherd's  watch- 
towiT."  '!<ii.  XXXV.  '21;  "the  tower  of  Edar^'  means  "a  shepherd's  tower."  See  also 2  Kings 
xvli.  9;  xviii.  S;  2  Chron.  xxvi.  10.  3  Ps.  xxiii.  2.  4  Ps.  xxxlii.  2:1  Sam.  xvi.  18;  Amos  vi.  5. 
0  Oen.  xxxl,  40.   O  Isa.  xxxU.  2;  xxv.  i\  xllx.  2;  Ps.  xci.  1.   7  Q^n.  jtUt.  T- 


6 
trd 


X.J 


ON    THE   WAY   TO   GERAR. 


146 


as 


of  Isaao.^  Sometimes  the  deep  wells  are  covered  by  a  great  stone^  «c 
heavy  that  it  can  only  be  moved  by  the  joint  strength  of  several  men; 
thus  securing  the  water  against  the  selfishness  of  any  single  shepherd, 
and  forcing  him  to  wait  till  his  brethren  who  have  an  equal  right  to  it 
have  ari'ived.2  If  it  be  the  season  for  leading  them  to  the  fold  by 
night,  the  sheep  are  guided  thither  as  evening  falls,  the  shepherd  stand- 
ing at  the  rude  gate  with  outstretched  staff,  counting  them  on  entering, 
as  in  the  morning.^  Then  comes  the  watch  by  night,  till  the  next 
morning  brings  back  the  same  daily  occupation. 

An  eastern  shepherd  is  responsible  for  every  mishap  to  his  flock,  but 
this  responsibility  is  lightene*!  by  the  fact  that  his  wages  generally 
depend  on  its  prosperity,  being  paid  by  a  share  of  the  young  lambs,  or 
of  the  wool,  or  of  both.  Apart  from  the  natural  sympathy  with  the 
only  living  creatures  linked  to  him  by  daily  companionship,  self-inter- 
est thus  prompts  him  to  unwearying  care  and  brave  fidelity  in  his 
calling.  He  will  wander  for  hours  after  a  sheep  that  has  strayed 
into  some  waterless  hollow  in  the  wilderness,  or  some  gloomy  and 
desolate  ravine  in  the  mountains,  and  when  he  has  found  it,  will  bear 
the  exhausted  creature  home  on  his  shoulders,  rejoicing  that  it  is 
restored  to  the  flock:  a  type,  as  our  Saviour  tells  us,  of  heavenly  love, 
seeking  and  saving  the  human  soul.*  Pity,  however,  might  well  be 
mingled  with  more  common  elements  in  the  shepherd,  for  in  old  times, 
as  now,  the  judge  might  sentence  him  to  make  good  to  his  master 
that  which  was  lost,  though  by  the  law  of  Moses  he  was  not  held 
responsible  for  sheep  destroyed  by  wild  beasts,  if  he  produced  some 
fragment  to  show  that  they  really  had  been  so  destroyed;''  Yet  Jacob 
had  to  make  good  to  his  covetous  uncle,  Laban,  "the  white"  Syrian, 
even  such  of  the  flock  as  beasts  of  prey  liad  killed.^  It  should  be 
added  that  along  with  conscientious  shepherds,  there  have  doubtless 
been  some,  in  all  ages,  as  in  the  days  of  Ezekieland  Zechariah,  who 
"ate  the  milk  and  butter,  and  clothed  themselves  with  the  wool;  who 
killed  the  fatted  sheep,  and  did  not  feed  the  flock,  or  strengthen  the 
weak,  ()r  heal  the  sick,  or  bind  up  the  injured, -or  lead  back  the  strayed, 
or  seek  the  lost."' 

At  the  best,  the  calling  of  the  shepherd  is  a  poor  one.  It  required  a 
service  of  twenty-one  years,  and  all  his  special  astuteness,  to  give 
Jacob  independence.  In  a  time  of  famine  the  prodigal  son  could  only 
obtain  for  himself  the  dry  pods  of  the  carob,  lying  below  the  tree,  the 
food  of  the  swine  he  was  tending.*  Amos  added  to  his  shepherding 
the  piercing  of  sycamore  figs,  to  increase  his  wages,  that  he-  might 
live.^  The  share  in  the  fiock  allowed  as  the  reward  of  the  herdsman 
is  small,  though  years  may  increase  it  to  a  flock  of  his  own.     Mean- 

1  Gen.  xxvi.  20.  2  Gen.  xxix.  2, 3.  3  Lev.  xxvil.  32.  Knobel.  4  Luke  xv.  4.  5.  Ex.  xxiJ.  9—13. 
6  Gen.  xxxl.  39.  7.  Ezek.  xxxiv.  3,  4;  Zech.  xi.  16.  SeeOeikie's  Hmira  udth  the  Bible,  vi.  218,  for 
translation  of  the  passages.   8.  Luke  xv.  16.   9  Amos  vii.  14. 

10 


146 


THE   HOLY   LAN])   AND  THE  BIBLE. 


[CHAi! 


Il 


h 


while  he  has  milk  from  the  goats  for  his  maintenance,  and  a  sheep- 
skin or  two  from  which  to  make  a  coat  against  the  winter's  cold,  and 
slowly  toils  through  long  poverty  to  what  is  to  him  independence. 
Few,  we  may  rest  assured,  have  Jacob's  wit  or  opportunity  to  gain 
flocks  and  herds  by  increasing  the  number  of  the  spotted  and  speck- 
led.i  Still,  to  tend  sheep  has  always  been  honourable  in  a  country 
like  Palestine,  so  that,  to-day,  we  see  the  daughters  of  a  sheikh,  or  of 
the  foremost  men  of  a  tribe,  thinking  the  work  worthy  of  them,  as 
Rachel  did  long  ago  in  Ilaran,  and  Moses  in  Midian.^  There  is  indeed, 
in  the  East,  such  a  sense  of  the  dignity  of  manhood  in  itself,  apart 
from  all  accidents  of  birth  or  position,  that  any  calling  not  obviously 
dig'  onorable  is  dignified  by  becoming  a  human  vocation.  The  poor- 
est beggar  has  a  quiet  self-respect  which  commands  respect  from 
others. 

The  sheep  of  Palestine  are  longer  in  the  head  than  ours,  and  have 
tails  from  five  inches  broad  at  the  narrowest  part,  to  fifteen  inches  at 
the  widest,  tjie  weight  being  in  proportion,  and  ranging  generally  from 
ten  to  fourteen  pounds,^  but  sometimes  extending  to  thirty  pounds.'' 
The  tails  are,  in  fact,  huge  masses  of  fat,  for  which,  in  some  parts, 
small  carts  are  said  to  be  used,  tied  behind  the  animal.^  Dr.  van 
Lennep,  however,  ridicules  this,  though  he  tells  us  that  the  tail, 
"though  usually  not  more  than  twenty  pounds  in  weight,  is  not  unfre- 
quently  three  and  even  four  times  as  heavy"!*  This  is  on  a  par  with 
the  statement  of  Herodotus,  that  the  tail  is  three  cubits — or  four  feet 
and  a  half — long.  Instead  of  this,  it  simply  reaches  to  the  knees  or  a 
little  below  them,  standing  out  as  a  great  broad  mass,  its  tip  coming 
to  a  point  turned  slightly  out.  This  amazing  appendage  is  used  sis 
grease,  and  also  for  lamps  and  cooking;  the  Arabs  even  eating  it  as  a 
delicacy,  when  fried  in  slices,  though  it  tastes  much  like  fried  tallow. 
With  such  a  tail  it  is  no  wonder  that  the  rest  of  the  carcass  weiglis 
only  from  sixty  to  seventy  pounds.  The  rams  alone  have  horns;  the 
color  of  the  breed  is  white,  but  some  have  brown  faces. 

The  portion  of  the  Holy  Land  once  held  by  Israel  is  not  rich  in 
pasture  suited  for  cattle,  so  that  it  could  never  have  supported  great 
herds.  But  its  dry,  chalky  soil,  growing  sparse  aromatic  plants  and 
salt-containing  herbs,  its  stunted  brush,  and  stretches  of  light  hill- 
grasses,  oftered  abundant  food  for  sheep  and  goats.  The  extent  to 
which  these  characteristics  of  their  country  were  utilized  by  the 
Hebrews,  and  the  importance  of  the  part  which  sheep  and  goats  fill  in 
their  history,  may  be  judged  from  the  fact  that  they  are  mentioned  in 
the  Bible  more  than  500  times.  Sheep  always  come  first  in  the  state- 
ment of  the  wealth  of  the  patriarchs,'  as  they  do  also  in  the  case  of 

1  Gen.  XXX.  32.  2  Gen.  xxix.  9:  Ex.  ill.  1:  ii.  16.  S  TrlstrAxn,  Nat,  Hut.  qf  Bible,  p.  lU.  4Biehni, 
p.  1384.  5  Koseniiidller,  Bio.  XaiurgeschicMe,  pt.  ii.  76.  See  also  Herod.,  iii.  113.  6  Bible  Lande, 
p.  196.    7  Gen.  xxvl,  14;  xxxiii.  13- 


a 
? 


CHA?. 


leep- 
,  and 
ence. 

gain 
peck- 
untry 

or  of 
jm,  as 
ideed, 

apart 
iously 

poor- 
i;  from 

d  have 
ches  at 
y  from 
)Uiids* 
B  parts, 
Dr.  van 
he  tail, 
t  unfre- 
ar  with 
our  feet 
ees  or  a 
coming 

used  as 
r  it  as  a 

tallow. 

weighs 
|ns;   the 

rich  in 

|ed  great 

iiits  and 

xht  hill- 

[xtent  to 

by  the 
Its  fill  in 
[ioned  in 

le  state- 

|e  case  of 

,.   4Blehm, 
[Bible  Land*, 


X.] 


ON  THE   WAY   TO  GERAR. 


147 


Job.^  Nabal's  flocks  in  Carinel,  south  of  Judeea,  consisted  of  3,00C 
sheep  and  1,000  goats.^  David's  flocks  were  so  large  that  it  was 
necessary  for  him  to  have  a  special  overseer  of  his  shepherds;^  and 
Ilezekiah  thought  it  worth  while  to  provide  "cotes"  for  his  slieep  and 
goats  on  a  royal  scale.*  Solomon  oftered  120,000  sheep  at  tlie  dedica- 
tion of  the  Temple,  and  required  36,500  a  year  for  his  table  ;^  and 
many  thousand  sheep  are  recorded  to  have  been  oftered  as  sacrifices  on 
one  occasion  by  various  Jewish  kings.* 

But  if  the  Jewish  mountains  and  plains,  and  the  uplands  of  the 
Negeb,  were  thus  dotted  with  flocks,  the  number  of  sheep  and  goats 
reared  in  the  districts  east  of  the  Jordan  was  much  greater,  from  the 
smallness  of  the  population  in  proportion  to  the  extent  and  riches  of 
the  pasturage.  Job,  in  tlie  Hauran,  had  latterly  14,000  sheep;  and 
King  Mesha,  of  Moab,  was  laid  under  a  tribute  to  Ahab  of  100,000 
lambs  a  year,  and  the  wool  of  100,000  rams.'^  But  the  wandering 
Arabs,  in  those  days,  were  specially  wealthy  in  flocks,  rivaling  the 
great  sheep-masters  of  Australia,  where,  thirty  years  ago,  tiiere  were 
already  16,000,000  sheep.*  The  Israelites,  under  Moses,  we  are  told, 
carried  off' from  the  Midianites  675,000  sheej),^  and  the  tribe  of  Reuben 
swept  away  from  the  "  Hagarites"  250,000.^^  The  flocks  of  Kedar — a 
wandering  tribe  of  Arabs  in  Northern  Arabia — and  the  rams  of 
Nebaioth,  another  great  Arab  tribe,  are  noted  by  Isaiah;"  the  former 
specially  supplying  the  vast  demand  of  Tyre  for  "lambs,  and  rams  and 
goats,"i2  while  Damascus  was  its  great  markei,  for  white  wool.^^  That 
these  numbers  and  statements  are  by  no  means  exaggerated  is  strangely 
corroborated  hy  the  Assyrian  inscriptions,  which  often  give  quite  as 
great  numbers  of  sheep  as  being  carried  off  fror  i  conc^^uered  i)eoples. 
Indeed,  they  are  sometimes  greater,  for  Sennaclierib  informs  us,  in  a 
cylinder  discovered  in  Nineveh,  that  in  the  war  with  Merodach 
Baladan  he  carried  off,  from  Babylonian  and  Syrian,  tribes,  no  fewer 
than  800,600  sheep  and  goats.i* 

It  may  be  a  wonder  with  some,  as  it  used  to  be  with  myself,  how 
such  enormous  sacrifices  of  sheep  as  the  Bible  records  could  have  been 
burnt  on  any  number  of  altars.  If  we  turn,  however,  to  the  Law,  we 
shall  find  that  only  the  internal  and  external  fat,  the  rump  or  great 
tail,  the  kidneys,  and  the  "caul  that  is  above  the  liver,"  were  actually 
consumed;  the  animal  as  a  whole  being  reserved  as  food  for  the  priests 
and  the  officers,^^  as  we  see  in  the  case  of  the  Passover  lambs. 

Flocks  of  goats  are  very  numerous  in  Palestine  at  this  day,  as  they 
were  in  former  ages.  We  see  them  everywhere  on  the  mountains,  in 
smaller  or  larger  numbers  ;^^  at  times,  also,  along  with  sheep,  as  one 

1  Job  i.  3;  xlll.  12.  2  1  Sam.  xxv.  2.  3  1  Chion.  xxvii.  31.  4  2  Chron.  xxy'.l.  28.  5  1  Kings 
Iv.  23;  vill.  63;  2  Chron.  vH.  5.  6  2  Chron.  xv.  11 ;  xxx.  24.  7  Job  xUi.  12;  2  Kli.gs  111.  4.  8  Cham- 
bers' Enrycl.:  art.  "Australia."  9  Num.  xxxl.,32.  10  1  Chron.  v.  21.  11  Isa.  Ix.  7.  12  Ezek.  xxvM. 
21.  13  Ezek.  xxvll.  18.  14  Schrader,  ^.  T.  f'?«in«c/k»*lcn,  p.  221.  15  Lev.  vli.  3— 6.  16  1  Kings  xx. 
27;  Cant,  Iv.l;  vi.$.  *^ 


148 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  THE   BIBLE. 


[CHAP. 


^' 


flock,  in  which  case  it  is  usually  a  he-goat  that  is  the  special  leader  of 
the  whole,^  walking  before  it  as  gravoly  as  a  sexton  before  tlie  white 
flock  of  a  church  choir.  It  is  from  tliij  custom  that  Isaiah  speaks  cf 
kings  as  the  "he-goats  of  the  eartli;'"'^  a  name  applied  to  tliem  by 
Zechariah  also,^  and  to  Alexander  the  Great  by  Daniel,  who  describes 
him  as  a  he-goat  from  the  west,  with  a  notable  horn  between  his 
eyes:*  a  fitting  symbol  of  his  irresistible  power  at  the  head  of  the 
Macedonian  army.  Tho  quarrelsomeness  of  the  he-goats,  often  shown 
in  violence  towards  the  patient  sheep,  supplied,  further,  an  apt  symbol 
of  a  cruel  and  oppressive  prince,*  and  as  these  characteri.stics  made  it 
necessary  for  the  shepherd  to  seppraie  the  goats  from  the  sheep  in  the 
fold,  tliis  may  have  been  the  immediate  source  of  the  awful  picture  in 
our  Lord's  discourse,  of  the  separation  of  the  goats  from  the  sheep  at 
the  Judgment-day.®  "^'ho  usu  il  color  of  the  goat  in  Palestine  is  black, 
so  tiiat  the  comparison  in  Camicles  of  the  locks  of  the  Beloved,  hang- 
ing in  rich  abur  dance  over  her  shoa)  ers,  to  a  flock  of  long-haired 
goats,  feeding  on  the  slopes  of  the  Gilead  hills,  one  above  the  other, 
was  as  natural  to  a  poet  of  the  count/y  as  it  is  beautiful.  'J^he  Beloved 
herself,  exposed  to  tlio  scorohing  heat,  in  the  vineyards  of  which  her 
brothers  had  made  her  keeper,  says,  as  she  thinks  of  her  com[)lexion, 
burnt  black  "because  the  sun  hath  looked  upon  her,"  that  siie  is  like 
the  tents  of  Kedar,  "beautiful"  in  their  outline  as  an  encam|)nient, 
though  the  tent-coverings,  woven  of  goats'  hair,  were  black,  like  her 
own  sun-tanned  features.'  One  specially  useful  purpose  once  served 
by  goats'  hair  is  told  us  in  David's  nistory,  when  his  wife  Michal  took 
one  of  the  household  images,  or  teraphim,  and  having  duly  laid  it  on 
a  bed,  under  the  bed-clothes,  put  on  its  head  an  extemporized  wig  of 
goats'  hair,  no  doubt  like  his  own  in  color,  so  that  the  counterfeit 
passed  off  as  the  young  hero  himself,  and  saved  him  from  the  emis- 
saries of  Saul,  to  bless  the  Church  with  his  glorious  Psalms.^  It 
must,  however,  have  been  the  hair  of  a  reddish-brown  goat,  not  of  a 
black  one,  that  Michal  used,  as  David  had  auburn  hair.^  There  is  a 
kind  of  goat  with  such  brownish-red  hair,  and  there  are  also  goats  pied 
and  speckled,  like  those  which  Jacob  had  for  hi.,  share,  thouglx  ^he 
black  ones  greatly  predominate. 

Goats  were  in  much  demand  among  the  Hebrews  as  offerings;  a  kid 
eight  days  old  being  fit  for  this  use,  tliough  the  Passover  goat,  when  a 
lamb  was  not  used,  was  required  to  be  a  yearling.^*^  The  thrice- 
repeated  command  that  a  kid  should  not  be  "seethed  [o"  cooked]  in 
his  mothers  milk,""  niay  have  been  gi*ven,  in  part,  as  a  protest  against 
the  seeming  cruelty  of  using  the  milk  that  should  have  been  the  crea- 

1  Jer.  1  8;  Prov.  XXX.  31.  2  Isa.  xiv.  0,  "  chief  ones  "- he  goats.  3Zech.x.3.  <  Dan.  viii.  5. 
B  Ezek.  xxxlv.  17.  6  Matt.  XXV  32.  7  Cant.  1.5.  8  ISani.  xlx.  18-16.  9  1  Sam.  xvl.  12;  xvli.42, 
"ruddy  "=red-halred.  10  Lev,  xxil.  27;  Judg.  vl.  19:  xlll.  15,  19;  Ex.  xU,  f.  U  Ex,  xxili,  19: 
»XxJV.S6;Deut.xlv.?l. 


[CHAP. 

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Beloved 

lieli  her 

plexion, 

e  is  like 

jnpuient. 

lliUe  her 

served 

lal  took 

,id  it  on 

[l  wig  of 

nterfeit 

«e  emis- 

kis»      It 

I  not  of  a 

lere  is  a 

Uts  pied 

|»us>:h  Me 

a  kid 

when  a 

thrice- 

)ked] in 

against 

the  crea- 

.Jan.  vlll.  5. 
|l2;  xvll.42, 


XI.) 


QEttAfi. 


149 


ture's  nourishment,  as  the  medium  of  its  preparation  for  human  food ; 
but  there  were  other  and  deeper  grounds.  Like  all  the  Mosaic  rules 
about  food,  it  doubtless  had  a  religious  basis ;  perhaps  to  guard  the 
Hebrew  against  a  practice  associated  with  some  heathen  superstition 
prevalent  around  them.  Jewish  tradition,  reaching  back  to  hoary 
antiquity,  seems  to  justify  this  belief,  kids  being  said  to  have  been 
seethed  by  the  heathen  in  their  mothers'  milk,  at  the  fruit  harvest,  in 
order  to  get  a  blessing  on  the  crop  or  on  the  fields  over  which  the  milk 
was  sprinkled.^ 


CHAPTER  XI. 


GERAR. 

The-  country,  as  we  w.ilked  our  horses  towards  Gerar,  continued  to 
be  a  succession  of  rolling  pasture-land,  seamed  with  dry  water-courses, 
soine  small,  others  showing  that  large  streams  rushed  through  them  in 
winter.  At  various  points  Bedouin  tents  of  black  goats'-hair  cloth 
came  in  view,  with  herds  of  fifty  or  sixty  small  cattle  feeding  on  the 
slopes;  women,  men,  or  boys  tending  them.  The  grass  was  very  thin, 
and  greatly  broken  by  tufts  of  lily -like  plants,  not  yet  come  to  flower; 
scarlet  anemones  shining  out  between.  At  last  we  reached  the  district 
in  which  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob  had  pitched  their  tents  and  dug 
^vella  for  their  flocks,  nearly  4,000  yefc..'s  ago.  A  well  on  a  sandy  slope, 
close  by  the  track,  was  the  first  of  many  which  we  soon  passed,  indi- 
cating the  once  comparative  populousness  of  the  neighborhood.  It 
was  circular,  with  a  domed  roof,  partly  broken  in,  and  this  well,  like 
most  others,  had  long  ago  been  filled  up.  Some  of  those  nelar  at  hand 
were,  like  this  one,  filled  up  nearly  to  the  top ;  a  few,  entirely ;  but 
others  had  been  left  twelve  or  twenty  feet  deep,  with  the  rock  exposed 
below  the  masonry.  This  first  well  was  built  of  small  stones  set  in 
mortar,  which  was  bound  with  massesof  small  shells,  like  that  of  the  walls 
of  Ascalon.  Each  layer  of  stones  formed  a  level  circle  round  the  whole 
wall,  as  seen  on  the  outside ;  for  the  inside  was  cemented,  and  the 
stones  hidden.  T^»'o  of  the  wells  were  quite  close  on  the  knoll  behind ; 
others,  scattered  over  the  gentle  slope  which  ran  back  a  long  way  to 
the  east,  with  low  hills  behind  it.  One,  which  was  about  twenty  feet 
across,  buiit,  like  the  others,  of  small  stones  in  regular  layers,  cemented 
over  inside,  with  a  broken  dome  above  it,  had  water  at  a  depth  of  about 

1  Biehm,  Speitegeaetze.  p.  1516. 


150 


THK  HOLY   LAND   AND  THE   BIBLE. 


(Chap. 


sixty  feet,  but  how  deep  tlie  water  was  I  could  not  say.  A  heap  of 
stones  lay  at  one  side ;  mostly  shelly  limestone  and  rough  sandstone. 
In  all,  1  counted  about  t  onty  wells,  of  which  eighteen  were  more  or 
less  filled  up,  only  tiie  masonry  of  the  otiier  two  being  perfect.  They 
stand  on  the  hill-slo})es  tliat  run  down  to  the  wady.  The  perfect  domes 
had  a  hole  in  the  centre,  to  let  the  drawers  get  at  the  water.  The  rea- 
son most  of  them  liad  been  more  or  less  tilled  up  when  the  population 
diminished  was,  apparently,  that  they  might  serve  as  grain-pits  for  the 
Bedouin,  and  it  was  possibly  by  them  that  they  had  been  cemented, 
since  fragments  of  pottery  in  the  concrete  showed  it  to  be  compara- 
tively modern.  Were  these  the  wells  dug  by  the  slaves  of  Abraham 
and  "stopped  and  filled  with  earth''  by  the  subjects  of  Abimelech,  the 
Philistine,  and  which  Isaac  cleared  out  again  ?i  Or  were  they  some 
of  those  which  Isaac  caused  lo  be  dug  on  the  slopes  of  the  Wady 
Ghuzzeh,2  piercing  through  the  upper  porous  limestone  to  the  imper- 
vious strata  below,  over  which  streams  of  water  flow,  all  the  year,  from 
the  mountains  and  uplands  behind,  giving  a  constant  abundance  of 
"springing"  or  "living"  water?  On  the  great  map  issued  by  the 
Palestine  Survey,  twenty-four  wells  are  marked  within  a  circle  of  two 
miles,  nearly  all  close  to  the  great  Wady  Ghuzzeh,  or  to  a  subordinate 
torrent-bed  called  P]s  Sheriah,  which  runs  into  it.  The  Wady  (jhnzzeh 
drains  the  whole  country  in  the  rainy  season  for  r  lore  than  thirty  miles 
beyond  Beersheba,  its  course  running,  below  the  uplands,  in  a  curve 
from  east  to  west,  towards  that  site,  and  great  wadys  opening  into  it 
from  the  hills  to  the  east.  One  of  these,  Wady  es  Sheriah,  indeed, 
runs  back  at  least  eighteen  miles  from  its  junction  with  the  Wady 
Ghuzzeh.  The  spot  particularly  known  as  "the  Euins  of  Gerar"  has 
about  a  dozen  cisterns  on  the  top  of  a  low  swell ;  their  breadth  from 
four  to  five  feet,  and  their  depth,  where  not  filled  up,  six  or  eight  feet, 
so  that  while  some  of  the  wells  in  the  neighborhood  are  very  large, 
two-thirds  of  the  whole  number  arc  but  small.  Near  one  of  the  smaller 
size  are  tlie  remains  of  a  drinking-trough,  into  which,  it  may  be,  Isaac 
and  Jacob  often  poured  water  for  their  sheep  and  goats. 

That  a  considerable  community  existed  here  in  antiquity  is  beyond 
question,  from  the  evidence  of  heaps  of  broken  pottery,  found  in  the 
oides  of  the  valley  to  the  deptli  of  from  six  to  ten  feet,  besides  much 
strewn  about  over  the  surface  of  the  whole  region.  Unlike  that  which 
is  made  now  at  Gaza,  it  is  red,  not  black ;  so  that  it  may  well  be  very 
old.  Such  beds  of  potsherds  can  only  be  accounted  for  by  the  presence 
of  large  numbers  of  households  for  long  periods;  nor  would  even  this 
be  sufficient  explanation  unless  we  remembered  what  I  have  already 
alluded  to^the  exceeding  fragility  of  Eastern  pottery.  Only  too  often 
for  the  poor  maiden's  peace  of  mind,  the  pitcher  taken  to  the  fountain 

1  Gen.  xxvi.  15, 18.   Possibly  tbey  were  even  originally  grai;i  pits.   2  Gen.  xxvi.  19. 


Chap. 


XI.J 


GERAR. 


161 


ftp  of 

tone. 

ire  or 

They 

lomes 

B  rea- 

lation 

jr  the 

tinted, 

ipara- 

•aham 

ill,  the 

r  some 

Wady 

imper- 

r,  iVorn 

ince  of 

by  the 

of  two 

rdinate 

l\nzzeh 

,y  miles 

a  curve 

into  it 

indeed, 

,  Wady 
r"  has 
h  from 
ht  feet, 
large, 
smaller 
Isaac 

I beyond 
in  the 
^8  much 
It  which 
[be  very 
presence 
^en  this 
already 
loo  often 
fountain 


breaks  into  pieces  ^  if  sot  down  without  special  care,  while  on  opening 
my  carefully-packed  box  after  reaching  Engla'nd,  a  tiiousand  iVagmeiitH 
were  nearly  all  that  retnained  of  tlic  specimens  1  tried  to  bring  home. 
The  cement  witli  which  cisterns  are  coated  in  Palestino,  U>  make  them 
water-tight,  utilizes  part  of  this  wreck  of  shivered  earthenware,  so 
wonderfully  comnum  everywhere,  but  vast  beds  have  been  left  untouch- 
ed at  Gerar,  perhaps  for  future  consumption.  In  the  deej)  valley  of 
Ilinnom,  west  and  s(mth  of  Jerusalem,  men  may  be  .seen  every  autumn 
preparing  tliis  material.  Gathering  a  heap  of  potsherds  of  all  sizes 
and  kinds,  the  cement  or  "homrah"  maker  tucks  uj)  his  l)iue  cotton 
overshirt  below  his  girdle,  and  wits  down  on  the  ground,  with  a  heavy, 
round  stone,  for  crushing  the  broken  ware,  beside  hitn.  Spreading  out 
a  small  quantity,  he  rolls  the  stone  over  it  till  the  whole  is  ground  to 
powder,  or  to  very  small  pieces,  and  this,  mixed  "with  lime,  "makes  the 
cement.  At  Jerusalem,  traces  of  an  ancient  gateway  have  been  dis- 
covered, apparently  that  known  in  Bible  times  as  "the  Gate  of  the 
Potters:  "^  the  quarter  where  earthenware  was  ma"nufactured.^  Thither 
Jeremiah  was  commanded  to  go  and  buy  "a  potter's  earthen  bottle," 
and  shiver  it  to  pieces  before  "  the  elders  of  tlie  people  and  the  elders 
of  the  priests,"  aa  a  symbol  of  tlie  utter  destruction  impending  over  the 
city,  for  its  wickedness.  Just  below  the  gate  thus  visited  to  reach  the 
potters'  quarters,  there  are  great  heaps  of  rubbish,  made  uj)  chiefly  of 
very  ancient  broken  pottery,  and  it  is  here  that  tlie  "homrah"  makers 
obtain  most  of  their  raw  material.  It  is  striking  to  think  that  imme- 
diately opposite  this  former  position  of  the  "Potters'  Gate"  lies  the 
'•  Potters'  Field,"  still  called  Aceldama—"  the  Field  of  Blood  "—one  of 
the  rare  spots  in  this  locality  where  the  soil  is  of  clay  deep  enough  for 
graves,  and  for  this  reason  used  until  very  recently  for  the  burial  of 
strangers,  as  it  had  been  from  the  time  of  Judas  Iscariot.* 

Gerar  was  one  of  the  oldest  cities  of  the  Philistines,  for  it  is  men- 
tioned in  the  table  of  nations,  in  the  tentii  chapter  of  Genesis:^  the 
border  town,  it  would  seem,  of  that  people  on  tneir  first  coming  into 
Palestine  from  the  south,  but  after  a  time  left  to  sink  into  insignificance, 
when  Gaza  and  the  other  Philistine  towns  were  built,  farther  north. 
Abimelech,  the  name  of  its  kings,  both  in  Abraham's  lifetime  and  in 
Isaac's,  seems  to  have  been  a  title  given  to  its  rulers,  as  Pharaoh  was 
given  to  all  Egyptian  kings.  We  not  (mly  find  it  applied  to  the  chiefs 
of  Gerar  at  an  interval  of  perhaps  eighty  years,  in  the  narratives  of 
Abraham  and  Isaac,  but  it  is  used  also  of  King  Achish  of  Gath.^  It 
was  to  the  treaty  made  by  Abraham  with  the  ruler  thus  distinguished, 
in  his  day,'  that  the  Israelites  throughout  their  history  owed  the  recog- 
nition of  their  title  to  Beersheba,  as  being  in  their  territory,  of  which, 

1  Bccles.  xil.  6.  fi  Not  "potshords,"  as  in  the  B.  V.  The  A.  V.  has  "east  gate,"  by  a  mistrans- 
lation. 3  Jer.  xlx.  1 ;  xTiii.  4.  4  Acts  i.  18 :  Matt,  xxvii.  7.  6  Gen.  x.  19, 26.  6  1  Sam.  xxi.  10  (see 
margin) ;  title  of  Fs.  xxzlv.  (see  margin).  7  Gen.  xxl.  22-82. 


162 


THE   HOLY   LAND   AND  THK   BIBLE. 


[CUkf. 


I 


indeed,  it  formed  the  soutlicrii  outpost,  Tito  Philistines  nuist  tliorefore 
have  been  supreme  tVoiu  Gerur  to  tlio  limits  of  tlie  desert,  so  that  their 
territory  extended  in  one  direction,  at  least,  over  thirty  miles,  tliough 
only,  for  the  most  part,  over  pasture-land.  That  so  powerful  a  chief 
should  have  treated  Abraham  as  on  an  equal  footing  with  himself, 
speaks  of  the  strength  of  the  patriarch's  tribe.  IIu  was,  iu  fact,  a 
great  emir. 

I  rested  for  some  time  in  Gerar,  taking  my  seat  on  a  pile  of  stones 
beside  a  cistern,  while  we  enjoyed  some  home-made  brown  bread,  and 
hard  eggs,  washed  down  with  a  bottle  of  water.  The  scene  reminded 
me  of  Sali.sbury  Plain:  Hocks  here  and  there;  the  country  undulating; 
the  chalky  soil  sprinkled,  rather  than  covered,  with  grass.  To  the  east 
the  limestone  cropped  out  here  and  there,  as  the  land  rose  in  long, 
round-topped  waves  towards  the  distant  mountains.  A  good  many 
cattle  were  grazing  at  ditt'erent  points,  tended  by  Arab  boys,  with  very 
Jewish  faces,  and  by  brown-skinned  women,  in  blue,  olose-fitting  cotton 
sacks;  their  faces  veiled;  their  heads  covered  with  the  sleeves  of  their 
dress — apparently  the  only  article  they  wore;  not  even  their  naked  feet 
visible.  Part  of  the  land  was  rudely  ploughed  a  few  inches  deep,  but 
the  rank  thorns  and  weeds  seemed  calculated  to  choke  the  good  seed.'^ 
Barley  was  growing  in  some  places,  and  melons  were  being  sown  in 
others.  Close  beside  me  grew  the  familiar  groundsel,  dear  to  birds 
here,  no  doubt,  as  it  is  in  beloved  England  I  The  sea,  hidden  from 
sight,  lay  six  miles  to  the  west.  Our  guide  stood  by,  radiant  in  his 
many  colors ;  his  pistols  shining  in  his  girdle.  "Were  they  loaded?" 
He  flashed  up  at  the  question  and  fired  one  oft',  on  the  moment.  Pre- 
sently a  red-and-white  snake,  perhaps  roused  by  the  noise,  glided  out 
from  the  stones  on  which  we  were  sitting,  and  disappeared  in  the 
thorns  near  at  hand.  The  shot  fired  had  been  the  only  one  our  son  of 
Mars  could  boast.  "  Ahl  had  the  other  i)i8tol  been  loaded,  he  would 
have  killed  the  horrid  creature!"  I  was  only  thankful  it  did  not  try 
to  kill  any  of  us,  if  it  were  poisonous. 

Serpents  are  very  numerous  in  Palestine,  many  kinds  remaining 
undescribed,  although  over  twenty  species  are  already  known.  Indeed 
the  unknown  probably  outnumbered  those  with  which  European  nat- 
uralists are  acquainted.  Nine  kinds  are  more  or  less  venomous;  some 
of  them,  as  I  have  said  before,  very  deadly;  yet  few  accidents  seem  to 
happen  from  them.  Wliat  the  reptile  was  that  troubled  us  is  a  secret 
it  Kept  to  itself.  Seven  words  are  used  fc>r  different  kinc^s  of  snakes  or 
serpents,  but  it  is  very  hard  to  know  what  species  is  in  each  case 
meant.  The  difficulty  of  the  English  reader  is  increased  by  the  same 
Hebrew  word  being  differently  translated  in  different  passages:  an 
error  slavishly  followed  by  the  Eevised  Version.^ 

1  Matt.  xUl.  7.   2  See  ||^^  Pethen. 


CHAP. 


XM 


OEKAR. 


168 


J  fore 
their 
ougU 
3\nef 
nself, 
act,  a 

itoneB 
I,  and 
lindod 
ftting; 
le  east 
I  long, 
many 
h  very- 
cotton 
»f  their 
:ed  feet 
ep,  but 
.  8eed.^ 
lown  in 
JO  birds 
III  trom 
[t  in  his 
laded?" 
Pre- 
Lied  out 
in  tlie 
son  of 
would 
not  try 

.laining 

Indeed 

ban  nat- 

i;  some 

Iseem  to 

la  secret 

Lakes  or 

Ich  case 

(le  same 

les'.   an 


The  word  for  serpents  generally  occurs  twenty-nine  times  in  the 
Old  Testament,'  but  tlio  distinct  menibcrs  of  tlie  ghastly  brood  are 
contented  with  less  publicity.  Three  appear  only  once;  one,  thrice; 
one,  four  times;  and  one,  six  times.  Sonic  of  these  cannot  be  ident- 
ified, others  can;  let  us  see  what  light  science  throws  on  any  of  those 
which  the  Bible  notices. 

The  word  "cockatrice,"'^  used  in  the  Authorized  "Version  as  the 
translation  of  two  Hebrew  words,  is  a  mediieval  name  for  a  fabulous 
serpent,  supposed  to  be  produced  from  a  cock's  egg,  but  originally  it 
was  no  more  than  a  corruption  of  tlic  word  "crocodile;"^  its  sound 
leading  to  the  wonderful  invention.  The  serpent  to  which  it  refers  is 
not  known,  but  may  bo  the  great  yellow  viper,  or  "daboia,"*  the 
largest  of  its  kind,  and  more  than  usually  danj^erous,  since  it  seeks  its 
prey  by  night.  The  Revised  Version,  most  unfortunately,  gives  as  an 
alternative  to  "cockatrice,"  in  the  margin,  the  word  "basilisk,"  which 
was  another  fabulous  serpent,  thu.s  illuminating  the  one  unscientific 
fable  by  a  second  quite  as  fanciful.  The  basilisk,  or  "king  serpent," 
was  described  as  only  three  spans  long  at  the  most,  with  a  white  spot 
on  its  liead,  frequently  compared  to  a  crown,  whence  its  name.  Fables 
abound  of  its  fatal  hiss,  terrifying  all  other  serpents ;  of  its  scorching 
the  grass  and  stalks  of  herbs  as  it  glided  through  them;  of  its  splitting 
stones  with  its  pestilent  breath,  and  of  its  advancing  upright:  dreams 
which  show  how  much  the  natural  science  of  past  ages  owed  to  the 
imagination.  The  great  yellow  viper,  which  is,  perhaps,  the  creature 
really  meant  when  either  of  tlie.se  two  fabulous  creatures  is  mentioneu 
in  Scripture,  is  very  poisonous.  Canon  Tristram  saw  one  spring  at  a 
quail  which  was  feeding.  The  snake  tailed  to  do  more  than  puncture 
it,  in  the  slightest  possible  degree,  in  the  flesh  of  one  of  its  wings.  But 
even  this  was  enough.  Having  fluttered  on  a  few  yards,  the  birds  fell 
to  the  ground  in  the  agonies  of  death.  It  is  to  the  bite  of  this  crea- 
ture that  in  Proverbs  is  compared  the  deadly  effect  of  strong  drink;  it 
is  on  its  hole  that  the  weaned  child  is  to  place  its  hand  in  the  days  of 
the  Messiah;  it  is  to  its  eggs,  then  believed  to  be  deadly  poison,  that 
the  wicked  deeds  of  his  contemporaries  are  compared  by  Isaiah;  and 
its  untamable  fierceness  is  noticed  by  Jeremiah  as  defymg  the  efforts 
of  the  charmer. 

Four  Hebrew  words  are  translated  "  adder"  in  the  Authorized  Ver- 
sion, which  is  duly  followed  in  its  confusion  by  the  Revisers:  a  course 
pardonable  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago,  but  jireposterous  now.  Of 
these  four  words,  one,  "pethen,"  is  four  times  rendered  "asp,"  and 
twice  "  adder."^      From  the  allusions  to  it,  it  is  shown  to  be  poisonous, 

1  Bl^p  Nahush.  2  ;r|)y  Tsephah ;  'Mj^M  Tslphonl.  The  R.  V.  follows  the  A.  V.  in  the  one  case 
In  W(hich  the  second  of  these  words  is  translat'^d  "  adder ; "  in  the  otlier  cases  It  gives  "  basilisk," 
for  cookatrloe.  Z  Skeat,  English  Dictionary.  MuWer,  Etynu^.  SprachtoOrterbuch.  4  Prov.  xxiii  .32- 
Isa.  XI.  8 ;  xiv.  29 ;  lix.  5 ;  Jer.  viil.  17.    6  Deut.  xxxil.  33 ;  Job  xx.  14-16 ;  Isa.  xl.  8 ,  Ps.  Iviii.  4, 6 1 


154 


THE   HOLY    LA^U  AND  THE   BIBLE. 


[CHAP. 


to  live  in  holes,  and  to  defy  tlie  arts  of  the  charmer  to  subdue  it. 
Perhaps,  however,  tins  intractableness  refers  only  to  individual  snakes, 
if  it  be  correct  that  the  Egyptian  cobra,  which  is  also  found  in  South- 
ern Palestine,  is  the  serpent  intended,  as  is  believed  by  such  authorities 
as  Klein,  Furrer,  and  Canon  Tristram .^  I  have  often  seen  them  in  the 
hands  of  serpent-chftrmers  in  Cairo,  by  whom  they  seem  to  be  used, 
for  their  strange  art,  more  than  ^nv  other  serpent.  Taking  them  out 
of  a  basket,  and  laying  them  on  the  pavement,  they  speedily  irritate 
them  till  they  rise  upright,  supported  by  coils  of  their  lower  vertebrae, 
and  dilate  their  necks  as  if  about  to  spring.  Their  tormentors 
then,  catching  hold  of  them,  throw  them  round  their  arms,  necks, 
or  legs,  and  let  them  curl  at  their  will ;  taking  them  oft'  when  they 
please. 

References  to  serpent-charming  are  frequent  in  the  Bible,^  so  that  it 
must  have  been  followed  in  Palestine,  as  it  has  been  in  Egypt,  from 
the  remotest  ages  to  the  present.  The  cobra,  which  is  the  asp  of  the 
Greeks  and  Romans,  measures  generally  about  a  yard  or  four  feet  in 
length,  though  sometimes  more.  It  is  often  represented  in  its  erect 
posture  on  the  Egyptian  monuments,  and  a  figure  of  it  was  worn  on 
the  diadem  of  the  Pharaohs  as  the  symbol  of  their  absolute  power  of 
life  and  death.  Serpent-charmers  gain  their  livelihood  in  Egypt  at 
this  time,  as  of  old,  by  luring  serpents  of  different  kinds  from  their 
holes  in  the  mud  \valls  of  houses  and  other  buildings.  Thv^y  belong  to 
orders  of  dervishes,  and  thus  link  their  art  with  religion,  which  may 
explain  the  severity  expressed  towards  their  class  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, if  its  members  joined  their  art  with  heathen,  as  its  present  pro- 
fessors do  with  Mahomiiiedan,  superstition.  Manasseh  is  denounced 
for  "using  enchantments,"*  which  seem,  from  the  Hebrew  word,  to  have 
been  a  kind  of  divination  by  sorcerers  from  the  hissing  of  serpents, 
and  such  enchantments  are  expressly  prohibited  in  Leviticus  and 
Deuteronomy.*  They  were,  nevertheless,  practised  to  the  latest  ages  of 
the  Jewish  state,  for  Isaiah  speaks  of  those  skilled  in  enchanting  by 
serpents,^  and  we  find  these  reptiles  spoken  of  in  the  New  Testament 
as  "  tamed"  or  charmed.*  When  the  effort  of  the  charmer  was  unsuc- 
cessful, the  serpent  was  said  to  be  "deaf,"  and  to  "stop  its  ears,"'  though, 
of  course,  it  was  not  really  insensible  to  sound,  in  any  case.  The 
charmers  in  Egypt  now  travel  over  every  part  of  the  land,  and  find 
abundant  employment,  though  their  remuneration  is  very  small. 
They  profess  to  be  able  to  tell  whether  there  are  serpents  in  a  house, 
without  seeing  them,  and  to  attract  them  to  their  persons  as  a  fowler, 

1  Hiehtn,  p.  1404.  Tristram,  Nat.  Hitt.  of  the  Bible,  p.  271.  Schenkel,  Bib.  Lex.,  v.  223.  2  Ps.  Ivlll. 
5:  Eccles.  x.  11 ;  Jer.  viii.  17:  Jas.  ill.  7;  Eccles.  x.  8.  3  Kings  xxi.  6;  2  Chron.  xxxiii.  6.  4  Lev. 
XIX.  26;  Deut.  xviii.  10.  6  isa.  iii.  8.  This  Is  the  real  inear.iiig  of  the  words  translated  in  the 
A.  v.  "tlie  eloquent  orator;"  <!i  the  R.  V.,  "tlie  skilful  enchanter."  The  meaning  is,  literally, 
'•the  skilful  hisser."   8  Junes  Ui.  7.  7  Ps.  Iviii.  4. 


at  it 
from 
f  the 
jet  in 
erect 
rn  on 
rer  of 
ypt  at 
their 
mg  to 
[i  may 
'esta- 
Lt  pro- 
lunced 
have 
pents, 
IS  and 
iges  of 
jng  by 
metit 
nsuc- 
-ough, 
The 
id  find 
ismall. 
jhouse, 
fowler, 

Ips.lvUI. 
J  4  Lev. 
led  in  the 
literally. 


3n.] 


GEBAR. 


155 


by  the  fascination  of  his  voice,  allures  a  bird  into  his  net.  Assuming 
an  air  of  mystory,  they  strike  the  walls  with  a  short  palm-stick,  whistle, 
mi.ke  a  clucking  noise  with  their  tongue,  and  spit  on  the  ground,  gen- 
erally adding,  "  I  adjure  you  by  God,  if  ye  be  above,  or  if  ye  be  below, 
that  ye  come  forth;  I  adjure  you  by  the  most  great  name,  if  ye  be 
obedient,  that  ye  come  forth ;  and  if  ye  be  disobedient,  die !  die!  die!" 
The  serpent  is  generally  dislodged  by  the  stick,  or  drpps  from  the  ceil- 
ing of  the  room,  and  is  secured  by  the  charmer,  who  extracts  the  poi- 
sonous teeth  before  venturing  to  toy  with  it.^  Sometimes  a  flute  is 
used  to  entice  it  from  its  hiding-place,  and,  when  it  is  made  harmless,  to 
cause  it  to  move  to  the  music.  Not  unfrequently,  as  I  have  said,  the 
performer  lets  the  snakes  twine  round  his  "neck,  arms,  and  broast,  and 
affects  to  be  in  a  life-and-death  struggle  with  them.  In  ancient  times, 
moreover,  charmers,  apparently  by  pressing  a  particular  part  of  the 
neck,  were  able  to  mesmerise,  or  temporarily  paralyze  them,  so  that 
they  stretched  themselves  out  at  full  length,  and  became  for  the  time 
perfectly  rigid ;  their  activity  being  restored  at  pleasure  by  seizing 
them  by  the  tail  and  rolling  them  briskly  between  the  hands.  Was 
this  the  way  in  which  the  skill  of  the  Egyptian  magicians  was  shovm 
before  Pharaoh  ?2  It  was,  and  still  is,  a  dangerous  art  to  trifle  with 
creatures  so  deadly,  for  their  poison-teeth  grow  again  after  being  pulled 
out  and  at  times  they  strike  before  the  teeth  can  be  drawn,  and  the 
poor  charmer  dies.  "Who  will  pity  a  charmer  that  is  bitten  with  a 
serpent?"  says  the  son  of  Sirach.  I  do,  for  one  I  I,  myself,  never  saw 
one  of  these  poor  creatures  showing  his  art  on  any  special  scale,  but  a 
missionary  in  India  gi  ves  us  the  following  vivid  personal  testimony.*  A 
serpent-charmer,  having  been  sent  into  his  garden,  after  the  most  minute 
and  careful  precautions  against  artifice  of  any  kind — "began  playing 
with  his  pipe,  and  after  proceeding  from  one  part  of  the  garden  to 
another  for  some  mimutes,  stopped  at  a  part  of  the  wall  much  injured 
by  age,  and  intimated  that  a  serpent  was  within.  He  then  played 
quicker,  and  louder,  when,  almost  immediately,  a  large  cobra  put  forth 
its  hooded  head,  and  the  man  ran  fearlessly  to  the  spot,  seized  it  by  the 
throat  and  drew  it  out.  He  then  showed  the  poison-fangs,  and  beat 
'hem  out;  afterwards  taking  it  to  the  room  where  his  baskets  were 
icft,  and  dep^aiting  it  among  the  rest."  Does  this  beating  out  of  the 
poison-fangs  explain  the  words  in  the  verse  following  that  in  which 
the  Psalmist  says  of  the  wicked,  "Their  poison  is  like  the  poison  of  a 
serpent:  they  are  like  the  deaf  adder  tnat  stoppeth  her  ear;  which 
will  not  hearken  to  the  voice  of  charmers,  charming  never  so  wisely. 
Break  their  teeth,  O  God,  in  their  mouth"*?  As  to  "stopping  their 
ears,"  it  is  of  course  well  known  that  the  serpent  has  no  external  ears 
or  opening  for  sound,  at  all,  so  that  the  words  are  only  a  figure  of 

1  Lane,  Mod.  Egypt.,  11. 108.   P  iJixod.  vii.  9.   3  Miwimary  Magazine,  1897.   4  Ps.  Iviii.  6, 6. 


I 


166 


THE  ttOtV  LAND  ANt)  THE  filBLE. 


tCHAt". 


speech  for  refusing  to  listen  to  the  voice  or  music  of  the  cliarmer. 
But  this  did  not  satisfy  the  theologians  of  former  days;  they  actually 
invented  the  fancy  that  serpents  stopped  their  ears  with  their  tail  ;- 
though,  after  all,  they  could  only  stop  one  at  a  tinie. 

The  extent  to  which  these  reptiles  can  be  tamed  is  seen  more  fully 
in  India  than  elsewhere.  Taking  out  eight  or  ten  difl'erent  kinds  from 
their  baskets,  the  charmei's  lay  them  on  the  ground,  over  which  the 
creatures  presently  begin  to  glide  away  in  every  direction.  Their 
master  then  puts  the  pipe  to  his  lips,  and  plays  some  of  his  peculiar 
notes,  at  which  the  serpents  stop,  as  though  enchanted,  and  turning  to 
the  musician,  approach  within  two  feet  of  him,  raise  their  heads  from 
the  ground,  and  sway  backwards  and  ibrwards,  in  time  with  tlie  tune, 
thoroughly  under  the  spell  of  the  sweet  sounds.  When  he  ceases 
playing,  they  drop  their  heads  and  remain  quiet  on  the  ground,  till 
replaced  in  the  charmer's  baskets. 

The  Hebrews  evidently  were  very  familiar  with  the  serpent. 
Zophar,  in  the  Book  of  Job,  shared  the  idea,  prevalent  still  among  the 
common  people,  tl  at  the  forked,  sharp  tongue  was  that  which  bit  and 
poisoned  a  victim,  and  he  knew  of  the  habit  the  charmers  had  of  suck- 
ing out  the  poison  when  anyone  was  bitten  ;2  but,  generally,  the  infu- 
sion of  the  venom  is  correctly  attributed  to  the  bite.^  The  habit  of 
the  serpent  tribe  of  hiding  in  walls  is  noticed  in  Ecclesiastes:  "  Whoso 
breaketh  down  a  gadair,  a  serpent  shall  bite  him;"^  the  "gadair" 
being  the  dry  stone  wall  of  a  vineyard  or  orchard,  still  known  in 
Palestine  as  a  "yedar."  So,  in  Amos,  of  serpents  hiding  in  the  crevices 
of  the  mud  walls  of  houses:  "As  if  a  man  went  into  the  house,  and 
leaned  his  hand  on  the  wall,  and  a  serpent  bit  him."^  That  serpents 
are  produced  from  eggs  was  known  to  Isaiah,  who  tells  us,  the  wicked 
"hatch  serpents'  eggs;"^  and  their  wonderful  mode  of  progression  on  a 
smooth  rock  was  one  of  the  four  things  too  mysterious  for  Agar  to 
understand.'^ 

A  third  kind  of  serpent  mentioned  in  Scripture  has  been  identified 
with  the  cerastes  or  horned  snake,  a  small  creature  from  twelve  to 
eighteen  inches  long,  of  a  sandy  color.  Its  name,  "shephiphon,"  occurs 
only  once  in  the  Bible,  but  the  fact  that  the  Arabs  still  call  the  cerastes 
"shiphon"  leaves  no  doubt  as  to  fne  reptile  meant.  "Dan  shall  be  a 
serpent  by  the  way,"  says  the  dying  Jacob,  "an  adder  in  the  path,  that 
biteth  the  horse's  heels,  so  that  his  rider  shall  fall  backward."®  It  is 
the  habit  of  the  horned  snake  to  coil  itself  in  the  sand,  where  it  basks 
in  the  foot-print  of  a  camel  or  other  animal,  darting  out  suddenly  on 
any  passing  beast.  "So  great  is  the  terror  which  the  sight  of  it 
inspires  in  horses,"  says  Canon  Tristram,  "that  I  have  known  mine, 


1  Bythner,  Lyre  of  David.    Dee's  Translation,  n.  165.    2  Job  xx.  16 
9— ll;Frov.  xxiii.  32.   4£ccles.  x.  8.   SAmosv.  19.   eisa.  lix.5,    ~" 


3  Num.  xxi.  9;  Eccles.  x. 
7  Frov.  XXX.  19.   8  Gen.  xlix.  17. 


tified 
ve  to 
»ccurs 
rastes 
be  a 
til  at 
It  is 
Ibasks 
ly  on 
of  it 
mine, 

bcles.  X. 
[xllx.  17. 


For  lie  bringeth  down  them 
that  dwell  on  hi<j;h  ;  the  lofty 
city  he  layeth  it  low,  even  to  the 
piound  ;  he  brinp^eth  it  even  to 
the  dust. — Tsa.  xxvi,  5. 

In  that  day  will  I  raise  up  the 
tabernacle  of  David  tliat  is  fall- 
en, and  close  up  the  breaches 
tliereof  ;  and  I  will  raise  up  his 
ruins,  and  I  will  build  it  as  in 
the  days  of  old.— ^4mo».  ix.  11. 


»mN9  OF  ST.  v^OHN'9  QHVRCH  NEAR  BEIT  JIBRIN.   (See  pa^  IW.) 


XI.] 


GERAE. 


157 


when  I  was  riding  in  the  Sahara,  suddenly  start  and  rear,  trembling 
and  perspiring  in  every  linr.b,  and  no  persuasion  would  induce  him  to 
proceed.  I  was  quite  unable  to  account  for  his  terror  till  I  noticed  a 
cerastes  coiled  up  in  a  depression,  two  or  three  paces  in  front,  with  its 
basilisk  eyes  steadily  fixed  on  us,  and  no  doubt  preparing  for  a  spring 
as  the  horse  passed."^  Like  the  wily  snake,  Dan  was  to  owe  his  suc- 
cesses more  to  stratagem  than  to.  open  bravery :  a  trait  marked  in  the 
history  of  the  tribe. 

The  snake  known  in  the  Authorized  Version  as  the  viper  seems  to 
have  been  identified  by  Canon  Tristram  with  the  sand-viper,  a  reptile 
about  a  foot  in  length.^  We  read  also  of  "vipers"  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment, but  the  word  used  is  that  common,  in  Greek,  for  any  poisonous 
snake.  The  viper  that  bit  St.  Paul  may  have  been  the  ordinary 
Mediterranean  viper,  though,  owing  to  the  clearing  away  of  forests 
from  Malta,  no  snake  is  now  found  in  the  island.  The  Mediterranean 
viper  is  fond. of  lurking  among  wood,  and  it  will  be  remembered  that 
the  snake  which  fa.'.jened  on  St.  Paul's  hand  came  out  of  the  fagots 
for  the  fire.^ 

The  "fiery  serpents"  which  troubled  Israel  in  the  wilderness  have 
not  been  identified  with  any  particular  species,  and  seem  to  owe  the 
name  rather  to  the  effects  of  their  bite  than  to  any  other  peculiarity, 
especially  as  we  find  the  Greek  Bible  speaking  of  them  only  as  the 
"deadly  serpen+s."* 

We  might,  indeed,  with  strict  exactness,  translate  the  name  as  "the 
serpent  of  the  burning  bite,"  though  there  are  poisonous  serpents  in 
Arabia  with  fiery-red  spots  and  marks.*  The  burning  heat  produced 
by  their  bite  might  well  give  them  the  name  of  "fiery,"  just  as  the 
Greeks  called  a  kind  of  serpent  whofcie  bite  made  the  face  fiery-red  with 
its  poison,  and  the  limbs  swell,  "prester,"  the  "inflamer,"  and  "  kausos," 
the  "burner,"  and  another,  whose  bite  caused  mortal  thirst,  "dipsas," 
or  the  thirst-causing  serpent.  The  "fiery  flying  serpent"  of  Isaiah^  evi- 
dently does  iiot  refer  to  any  serpent  with  wings,  for  there  are  no  such 
creatures,  but  rather  to  the  swift  spring  of  some  especially  deadly  snake, 
as  we  say  of  even  a  quadruped  that  "it  flew  along  the  road,"  when  we 
mean  simply  that  it  went  so  quickly  that  we  could  only  compare  its 
speed  with  that  ol'  flying. 

The  dull  eyes  of  the  serpent  are  the  very  opposite  of  intelligent,  yet 
its  "subtilty"  has  in  all  ages  been  a  familiar  expression  in  widely-sep- 
arate nations.  This  must  be  in  allusion  to  its  craft  in  hiding  till  its 
victim  approaches,  or  its  secrecy  in  gliding  towards  it;  also,  perhaps, 
to  its  power,  in  some  cases,  of  fascinating  its  prey,  and  its  wariness  in 
avoiding  danger.     It  is  in  this  last  sense  that  our  Saviour  counsels  the 

1  Tiistiam,  Nat.  Hist,  qf  the  Bibk,  p.  274.  2  Feb.  "epheh"  (Job  xx.  16,  Isa.  xxx.  6-,  lix.  5). 
The  Arabic  name  ol  the  sand-viper  is  "elephah  "  3  Tristram,  p.  277.  4  Num.  xxi,  6—6;  Deut, 
yiii.  15.   5  Schti^ft  Travelt,  ii,  406,   6  Isa.  xiv.  2^, 


158 


TIIK    IIOLV    LANI!    AM'   THE    HlHIiK. 


[Chap. 


disciples  to  be  "wise  as  ser[)ents:'''  uvoidiiig  iiniiecessary  invitation  of 
persecution,  and  gratuitous  incitement  to  ill-will.  In  the  same  tigura- 
tive  sense  we  must  understand  the  words  of  Scripture  respecting  tiie 
serpent  eating  dust,^  as  only  a  vivid  mode  of  expressing  tiie  deepest 
humiliation,  as  vhen  the  heathen  are  described  as  "licking  up  the  dust 
of  the  feet"  of  Israel,^  or  when  tlw  Psalmist  speaks  of  "eating  ashes 
like  bread." ^  At  ilie  same  time,  t\ui  fact  that  the  serpent  generally 
kills  iw  prey  on  the  ground,  of  course  implies  that  it  must  swallow 
dust,  but  not  more  than  other  creatures  who  also  eat  their  food  from 
the  earth;  less,  in  fact,  I'or  it  does  not  rend  its  victim,  but  swallows  it 
whole.  It  is  a  striking  and  curious  fact,  in  this  connection,  tliat  we 
often  find  on  the  monuments  of  Egypt  a  deity  in  human  sliape  piercing 
the  head  of  a  serpent  with  a  spear:  a  remarkable  illustration  of  the 
wide  dissemination  of  the  tradition  of  the  Fall. 

The  journey  from  Gerar  to  Beersheba  is  over  much  the  same  kind 
of  country  as  that  from  Gaza  to  Gerar:  low  hills,  dotted  now,  in  the 
spring-time,  with  herds:  plains  sprinkled  with  flocks  of  brown-faced, 
broad-tailed  sheep,  and  goats,  generally  in  charge  of  women  or  child- 
ren; a  few  black  tents,  here  and  there,  with  a  miserable  shepherd,  in  a 
sheep-skin  coat,  with  sleeves,  the  woolly  side  out;  a  dagger-handle 
peering  out  of  his  leather  belt  or  girdle,  and  a  long  stick  in  his  hand ; 
his  club  probably  hidden  under  his  coat.  An  Arab  passed  us  on  horse- 
back, carrying  a  spear  about  twelve  feet  long,  with  a  cruel -looking  iron 
head,  ornamented  with  a  tuft  of  wool,  and,  at  the  other  end,  a  long  iron 
butt,  sharp-pointed,  to  thrust  into  the  ground  before  the  tent,  so  thajt 
the  spear  might  be  upright,  ready  to  be  snatched,  its  position  also  being 
a  token  of  the  owner's  autliority  as  sheikh.  So,  the  spear  of  Saul  was 
"stuck  at  his  bolster," ^  or,  rather,  "head."  The  Arab  had,  besides,  a 
sword  and  pistols,  and  a  white  head-cloth,  or  "  kefiyeh,"  with  the  usual 
r-ng  of  soft  camels'-hair  rope  twice  round,  to  keep  it  in  its  place,  the 
tails  of  the  kerchief  falling  over  his  breast.  His  complexion  was  very 
black,  but  his  features  handsome.  A  brown-striped  "abba,"  over  his 
inner  cotton  dress,  completed  his  costume.  I  asked  to  look  at  his 
spear,  and  he  at  once  handed  it  to  me,  saying  that  he  "gave"  it  to  me; 
but  this  was  only  a  formal  act  of  courtesy,  meaning  nothing,  like  that 
of  Ephron  the  son  of  ITelh,  four  thousand  years  ago,  when  he  affected 
to  give  Abraham  the  Cave  of  Machpelah  without  payment;  intending 
all  the  while  to  let  him  have  it  only  for  its  full  value.'^  Returning  him 
his  formidable  weapon,  therefore,  with  many  thanks,  we  rode  on  the  one 
way;  he,  the  other. 

1  Matt.  X.  16.    2  Gen.  lii.  14;  Isa.  Ixv.  25;  MlC  vll.  17.    3  Isa.  xllx.  23;  Ps,  Ixxll.  9.    4  Ps. 
cii.  9.    5  1  Sam.  xxvi.  7.    6  Gen.  xxiii.  11. 


so: 


XII.] 


BEERSHEBA. 


169 


CHAPTER  XII. 


BEERSHEBA. 


him 
one 

4  rs. 


The  wells  of  Beerslieba  are  on  the  edge  of  the  wady,  or  torrent-bed, 
Es  Seba,  wliicli,  as  I  have  said,  svveeps  in  a  long  curve  towards  the 
north-west,  till  it  reaches  the  sea  a  little  south  of  Gaza.  There  are  now 
only  tree  wells:  two,  filled  with  water;  the  third,  dry:  but  no  traces 
of  the  other  four,  thought  once  to  have  been  here,  are  visible.  The 
existing  wells  are  built  of  fine  solid  masonry,  and  are  in  good  condi- 
tion, according  to  the  Oriental  standard.  There  is  no  wall  round  them, 
so  that  it  would  be  really  dangerous  to  approach  them  in  the  dark,  or 
carelessly,  and  the  stones  are  worn,  far  down  the  sides,  into  deep  fur- 
rows by  the  ropes  with  which,  for  many  centuries,  the  Arabs  have 
drawn  water  from  them,  for  themselves  aiici  their  flocks  and  herds.  It 
would  be  pleasant  to  think  that  they  are  the  very  wells  used  by  Abra- 
ham and  the  patriarchs,  but,  although  the  excavations  may  be  the  same, 
the  masonry  certainly  is  not,  since,  fifteen  courses  down,  on  the  south 
side  of  the  large  well,  Captain  Conder  discovered  a  stone  with  an 
Arabic  inscription,  dated  505  A.  H. — that  is,  after  Mahomet's  flight 
from  Mecca — in  other  words,  in  the  twelfth  century  of  our  era.  Rude 
stone  troughs  stand  round  the  two  wells  which  have  water :  nine  round 
the  larger  one;  five  round  the  smaller. 

The  wady  below  is  about  300  paces  broad ;  its  bed  filled  with  stones, 
some  of  large  size,  rolled  from  the  distant  hills  by  the  fury  of  the  win 
ter  storms.  On  the  low  hills  bordering  the  wady  on  its  northern  edge 
can  be  traced  the  ruins  of  what  was  anciently  the  town  of  Beersheba, 
for  there  was  once  a  Roman  garrison  stationed  here,  and  a  considerable 
populatien.  The  houses  appear  to  have  been  scattered  over  several 
small  hills  and  the  hollows  between;  traces  of  them  being  visible  for 
half  a  mile  along  the  edge  of  the  wady,  and  a  quarter  of  a  mile  back. 
On  the  south  side  of  the  ravine  a  wall  of  hewn  stone  extends  for  sev- 
eral hundred  feet  under  the  bank,  apparently  to  prevent  it  from  being 
washed  away  during  the  winter  rains.  The  ground,  like  other  ancient 
sites,  is  largely  covered  with  fragments  of  pottery;  the  direction  of 
the  streets  can  be  traced,  and  there  are  vestiges  of  some  public  build- 
ings; but  if  it  were  .lOt  for  the  wells  there  would  be  no  inducement  to 
visit  the  spot. 

Here,  then,  amidst  dark-skinned  Arabs,  whose  territory  extended  a 
few  miles  northward  from  the  wells,  were  the  remains  of  Beersheba. 
The  poverty  of  the  Ishmaelites,  according  to  our  notions,  seemed 
extreme,  though  some  of  them  had  iiocks  and  herds.  The  women,  in 
some  cases  at  least,  wore  no  veils,  and  certainly  they  could  not  be  called 


160 


THE  HOLY   LAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


[Chap. 


I 


I 


handsome,  if  one  could  jiulgo  from  a  poor  creature  who  came  to  ask 
bakshish.  Her  dress  luvd  no  alcoves,  and  showed  her  bust  even  a  shade 
more  fully  than  our  full-dress  at  evening  parties;  in  fact,  nearly  to  her 
waist,  round  which  was  wound  a  cord,  tlie  first  girdle  I  ever  noticed  on 
one  of  her  sex.  llcr  hair  hung  down  the  sides  of  her  head,  in  confu- 
sion; on  her  left  arm,  which  was  bnre,  were  four  different  metal  and 
glass  ornaments,  and  lier  left  no°tril  was  sot  off"  with  a  ring  which 
passed  through  the  ce.  ilage  ■'.^  t  irrings  do  through  the  lobe  of  the 
!  T.  1^'rom  l:ev  ]\c\(\  r  ;  i).  J  ,«?u.k  huny  down  iier  back,  part  of  it 
filled  with  a  heavy  brown  rJni'l  whose  head,  which  was  all  that  was 
visible,  was  carefull}  do.  v^  a  a  close-fitting  cap.  The  ancient 
Israelites,  like  this  poor  creivturc  '^lighted  in  personal  ornaments. 
They  had  rings  for  the  arms,  lor  the  feet,  for  the  neck,  for  the  nose,  and 
for  the  ear.  Some  were  only  of  horn  or  of  ivory,  but  Rebekah  was 
won  for  Isaac  by  two  bracelets  of  gold,^  and  bracelets  were  among  the 
free-will  ofi'erii  gs  of  Moses,  after  the  sin  at  Daal-peor.^  Even  the  men 
wore  rings  on  the  arm,  for  the  Amalokite  brought  to  David  the  one  he 
had  taken  from  the  arm  of  Saul.^  The  ladies  of  Jerusalem  gloried  in 
rings  on  their  ankles — Isaiah's  "ornaments  of  the  legs"* — joined  by 
a  chain,  which  made  them  mince  their  steps,  and  clattered  as  their 
wearers  moved'* — "walking  and  mincing  as  they  went,  and  making  a 
tinkling  with  their  feet."  Strangely  enough,  we  are  told  that  Judith 
put  on  these  mock  fetters  when  arraying  herself  to  go  forth  to  kill 
Ilolofernes.®  Necklaces  are  still  common  among  the  native  women 
here,  and  among  the  Hebrews  were  worn  not  only  by  the  fair  sex,  but 
by  men.  The  spouse  in  Canticles  boasted  of  this  adornment,'^  and 
Ezekiel  pictures  Jerusalem  as  a  maiden  with  "ear-rings  in  her  ears,  and 
a  chain  on  her  neck."*  But  the  other  sex  was  as  vain,  for  obedience 
to  a  father  and  mother  is  r  -npared,  in  Proverbs,  to  chains  about  a  son's 
neck — his  special  glory .^  Nose-rings,  such  as  my  Bedouin  friend  wore, 
are  common.  At  times  you  see  the  hole  in  the  side  of  the  nose  marked 
by  a  mere  star  of  metal,  to  keep  it  open;  at  others,  a  ring,  it  may  be, 
an  inch  and  a  half  wide,  sticks  out,  forming  what,  to  Western  eyes,  is 
a  hideous  disfigurement  of  the  face.  Such  a  ring  Rebekah,  with 
bounding  heart,  allowed  Eliezer  to  put  "upon  her  face,"  when  he  met 
her  at  the  well ;^'^ and  "nose-jewels"  were  still  fashionable  in  Isaiah's 
time,^^nearly  1,400  years  later.  Jerusalem,  under  the  figure  of  a  maiden, 
is  adorned  with  a  nose-ring  \n  the  picture  of  her  given  by  Ezekiel,^^ 
and  in  Proverbs  "a  fair  woman  without  discretion"  is  compared  to  a 
golden  nose-ring  in  a  swine's  snout.^-  Strange  that  such  a  custom,  whicli 
makes  it  necessary  for  a  woman  to  hold  up  the  ring  with  one  hand 

1  Gen.  xxiv.  22,  30, 47.  2  Num.  xxxl.  BO.  3  2  Sam.  1. 8, 10.  4  Isa.  Hi.  20.  5  laa.  ili.  16.  6  Judith 
X.4.  7  Cant.  iv.  9.  8  Ezek.  xvl.  U.  9  Prov.i.9:  111,3.  )0  Ot^,  x^lv.  47.  U  Isa,  ill.  21.  )2£zek, 
XVl.12.   13  Prov.  xl.  22,  ,     f       ♦    V 


I 


XII.] 


BEERSHEBA. 


161 


)men 
but 
and 
and 


JS,  IS 

Iwitb 

met 

iah's 

iden, 

tiel,!'^ 

to  a 

[hicli 

liand 

ludith 
[Ezek, 


during  meals,  wt>ile  she  raises  the  food  to  her  mouth  with  the  other, 
should  still  be  followed,  after  thousands  of  years  1 

Earrini^d  one  can  easily  T^uderstand,  for  the  ears  lend  themselves  to 
vanii  7  in  many  ways.  Wu  see  them  in  the  ears  of  men  on  tiie  Assy- 
rian tablCi-.^,  and  Gideon's  war-cloak  could  not  gather  up  tiie  mouud  of 
golden  earrings  taken  from  the  Midianite  warriors  he  had  slain.^  Nor 
could  tlip  iadies  in  Israel  boast  superiority  to  the  other  sex  in  this 
respect,  for  even  in  the  desert  of  Sinai  enough  golden  earrings  were 
given  by  the  matrons  and  their  sons  and  daughters  to  make  the  golden 
calf.'^ 

The  worst  feature  of  this  vanity,  however,  was  that  too  many  of  these 
rings  and  jewels  were  regarded  by  the  Hebrews  not  <  \  'y  as  ornaments, 
but  as  charms  and  amulets.  They  wore  "little  nKH.ns.  mah  as  even 
today  are  a  favorite  female  decoration  in  the  1  3t,  ;  new  moon 
being  a  symbol  of  good  fortune,  and  small  cresv/ lu  copied  from  its 
shape,  being  regarded  also  as  a  protection  againii.  ii*^  lack  arts.  The 
earrings  which  Jacob  took  from  his  people  and  buneti  '  were  both  orna- 
ments and  charms,  which  the  }mtriarch  did  w  1  to  put  out  of  sight. 
Nor  did  belief  in  these  spells  and  talismans  die  j'.t  in  later  ages,  for 
Tsaiah  mentions  amulets  as  a  part  of  female  dress  in  his  day,  just  as 
they  are  among  Eastarn  women  now.*  They  were  cither  gems,  or  pre- 
cious stones,  or  plates  of  gold  and  silver,  lik^j  our  brooches,  magical 
spells  being  engraved  on  them,  or  hidden  in  them,  to  guard  the  wearer 
from  harm  when  she  had  hung  one  round  her  neck.  It  is  quite  pro- 
bable, indeed,  that  the  old  Jews  were  as  superstitious  as  the  present 
natives  of  Palestine,  of  all  ranks;  these  would  be  very  uncomfortable 
without  any  amulets  or  magic  charms,  not  only  for  their  own  protec- 
tion, but  for  that  of  their  children,  houses,  herds,  flocks,  and  even  fruit- 
trees.  Horses  and  cattle  bear  them  round  their  necks;  men,  women, 
and  children  either  carry  them  as  we  do,  in  the  form  of  a  looket,  or 
hide  them  in  their  bosoms;  and  the  very  trees  of  the  orchard  are 
guarded  by  mystic  characters  marked  on  them. 

Th'ise  cl  arms  are  generally  scraps  from  the  religious  books  of  the 
wearer,  wriit^n  after  certain  rnlea,  perhaps  also  with  mysterious  dia- 
grams; the  document  being  sewn  up  in  a  small  bag,  either  three- 
cornered  or  like  a  heart,  worn  next  to  the  ekin  from  infancy  to  old  age, 
as  a  Eoman  Catholic  wears  his  scapulary.  Some  of  these  spells  are 
believed  to  have  the  most  varied  power  aga-nst  all  enemies,  ghostly  or 
bodily,  turning  aside  bullets  in  war,  guarding  against  robbers,  and 
warding  off  illness  or  accidents,  the  only  wonder  being  that  the  wearers 
ever  know  what  trouble  is.  It  is,  moreover,  very  curious  to  notice 
that  all  the  sects  of  all  the  religions  of  the  country  have  equal  trust  in 
these  worthless  trifles. 

1  Judg.  vJil.  25.   2  Ex. xxxli.  8, 4.  3  Gen.  xxxv.  4,   4  Isa.  ill.  29, "  lehashlm " ;  in  A-  V.  " eHirinjfs." 


162 


THE   HOLY   LAND   AND  TIIK    lUHLK. 


[Chap. 


Beerslieba,  as  the  Bible  tells  us,  j^ot  its  name  IVoin  the  treaty  made 
respecting  it  between  Abraliam  and  the  I'liilistinos;  the  two  parties  to 
the  agreement  confirming  it  with  a  rnutinil  oatii,  accompanied  by  a 
gift  of  sevtui  slice})  from  Abraham  to  Abimeiecii,  iis  the  formal  sign 
which  gnaranteed  to  the  i)atriarch,  tiiencclbrward,  the  possession  of 
the  wells  which  he  had  clng.  in  alinsion  to  this,  the  word  moans 
either  "the  Well  of  the  Oatli,"  or  "the  Well  of  the  Seven." i 
Herodotus  tells  us  that  much  in  tiie  same  way  the  Arabs  marked 
seven  stones  with  their  blood,  and  kept  them  for  witness  respecting 
contracts  made,  having  lirst  laid  them  between  the  parties  contracting.^ 
Always  devout,  Abraham,  we  are  informed,  planted  a  grove  of 
tamarisk-trees,  or,  as  some  translate  it,  a  single  tamarisk,  under  which 
to  build  an  altar  to  Jehovah,  the  stones  lying  so  plentifully  in  the 
torrent-be(l  below  supplying  abundant  material,  liountl  these  wells 
the  Father  of  the  Faithlul  sojourned  for  many  years,  and  here  Isaac 
also  lingerr.l,  the  Philistines  confirming  the  ])ossession  of  the  wells  to 
him  by  a  new  treaty,  sealed,  as  usual,  with  an  oath.^  From  this  spot 
Jacob  set  out  on  his  weary  Journey  to  Mesopotamia,  and  hither  he 
returned  in  his  old  ngc,  on  his  way  to  Josej)!),  in  Egypt. 

At  the  conquest  of  Canaan,  Beerslieba  was  af-signe^l  to  Judali,"*  but 
it  was  a'''  "'wards  made  over  to  Simeon,^  and  bcciime  the  southern 
limit  of  the  possessions  of  Israel,  "from  Dan  to  Beerslieba"  being 
recognized  as  equivalc.it  to  the  wiiole  country  of  the  Hebrews,  i'rom 
north  to  soutli.^  In  later  days,  when  the  Tt'n  Tribes  acceded,  the 
kingdom  of  Judah  extended  from  Beerslieba  to  the  mountains  of 
Ephraim.'^  At  Beerslieba,  in  Samiicrs  day,  a  local  court  was  held 
for  the  south  countiy.  under  Abiah,  the  son  of  the  prophet,*  so  that 
there  must  have  been  some  community  round  the  wells  even  in  that 
early  ajie.  Silent  and  desolate  as  they  now  are,  they  had  once  the 
honor  of  sending  a  maiden  who  had  giown  up  beside  them,  to  be 
Quecji  of  Judah — Zibiah,  the  wife  of  Ahaziah,  and  mother  of  King 
Jehoash.^  A  hundred  years  later,  Beerslieba  had  become,  with 
Bethel  and  Gilgal,  a  centre  of  idolatrous  worship,  to  which  pilgrim- 
ages from  the  northern  kingdom  were  made  by  great  numbers — a  sin 
denounced  vehemently  by  the  brave  prophet  Amos.^''  Deserted  dur- 
ing the  Captivity,  it  became  once  more  a  Jewish  settlement  after  the 
return  from  Babylon.'^  It  was  at  Beerslieba  also  that  Elijah,  fleeing 
to  Horeb  to  escape  the  vengeance  of  Jezebel,  left  his  attendant,  him- 
self going  a  day's  journey  farther  south,  when  "he  lay  and  slept" 
under  a  bush  of  the  broom  so  common  in  this  neighborhood ;  for  it 
was  not,  as  one  version  has  it,  under  a  "  juniper."'^  Glad  of  any  shade  in 
such  a  weary  land,  the  prophet  would  be  additionally  cheered  if  he  pas.sed 

1  Gen.  xxi.  28,  29;  xxvl.  33.  2  Herod.,  iii.  8.  3  Gen.  xxvl.  33.  4  .Josh.  xv.  28.  5  Josh.  xlx.  2.  6 
Judg.  XX.  1 ;  2  Chron.  XXX.  5.  7  2  Chroii.  xlx.  4.  8  1  Sam.  viii.  2,  9  2Kingsxli.  1.  lUAmo9V.4, 
SjvlH.M,    UJJeh.xl.  30.    12 1  Kings  xix.  4, 5,  "  >?  ■  -> 


(CHAP. 

made 
ies  to 

hy  a 
I  sign 
on  of 
moans 
en."  1 
liirked 
ecting 
!ting.'^ 
)ve   of 
which 

in  the 
a  well  a 
B Isaac 
veils  to 
lis  spot 
ther  he 

h,*  but 
mthcrn 
[  being 
s,  i'rom 


)cti4 


&££tt8M£BA. 


m 


c 


the 
11  lis   of 
s    Vel.l 
so  that 
in  that 
nee  tlie 
to  bo 
f  King 
with 
jilgrim- 
I — a  sin 
led  dur- 
ftcr  the 
fleeing 
It,  him- 
slept" 
;  for  it 
Ihade  in 
passed 

I.  xlx.2.  6 
IIU09  V.  4, 


' 


on  liis  way  in  spring,  by  tlio  white  and  pink  blossom  which  covers 
the  broom,  oven  before  its  small  loaves  have  appeared.  It  is  the 
largest  and  most  notioeaMe  plant  in  tlie  desert,  and  it  alVorded  shelter 
to  Dean  Stanley  in  the  only  storm  of  ruin  ho  uiicountored  in  these 
parts.^ 

Unfortunately,  the  beauty  of  the  shrub  is  no  jyroteetion  against  the 
eagerness  of  the  pour  Arabs  to  make  any  profit  tliat  is  possible  in 
their  wilderness  liiuiits.  'i'he  routs  of  the  broom  have  long  been 
famous  for  yielding  the  finest  charcoal,  and  this  seals  the  fate  of  the 
plant,  wherever  it  is  foniid  in  any  (luantity.  Digging  up  the  whole 
bush,  the  roots  of  which  are  muuh  larger  than  the  stem,  the  natives 
char, as  much  of  it  as  is  fit  for  burning  and  carry  it  to  Cairo,  where  it 
fetches  a  high  ))rico.  The  Hebrews,  it  would  seem,  did  the  same,  for 
we  read  of  "coals  of  juniper" — that  is,  of  broom  ;^  and  it  would  even 
seem  that  in  times  of  fan'iie,  caused  by  the  hideous  cruelty  of  war, 
fngitives  dwelling  in  "the  clefts  of  the  valleys,  in  holes  of  the  earth 
and  of  the  rocks,"  "in  the  gloom  of  wasteness  and  desolation,"  dug  up 
the  roots  of  this  shrub  as  a  kind  of  food;'  for,  though  very  bitter, 
the  softer  parts  might  keep  them  alive,  the  plant  being  leguminous, 
and  thus  in  some  measure  nourishing. 

In  the  days  of  St.  Jerome — that  is,  about  400  years  after  Christ — 
Beensheba  was  still  a  considerable  village,  with  a  Roman  garrison :  a 
sad  enough  post  for  the  fashionable  officers,  and  a  dismal  one  for  their 
soldiers.  In  the  early  Middle  Ages  it  was  the  seat  of  a  bishop,  but  in 
the  fourteenth  century*  it  had  fallen  into  solitude. 

The  country  round  Beersheba  is  a  rolling  plain,  broken  by  deeper 
or  shallower  torrent-beds,  and  covered  for  miles,  in  spring,  with  grass, 
flowers,  and  tufts  of  ])lants  and  shrubs.  But  it  is  very  different  in 
summer.  The  herbage  is  then  entirely  burnt  up,  and  only  a  bare  and 
desolate  waste,  as  cheerless  as  the  desert  itself,  is  to  be  seen,  unless 
there  have  been  showe's,  which  are  very  rare  in  the  hot  months.  The 
Bedouins  now  move  off  to  more  attractive  spots,  and  the  wells  are 
left  solitary.  Nowhere,  far  or  near,  is  there  any  longer  a  relic  of 
civilization — all  is  abandoned  to  the  wandering  Arab.  Yet  it  was 
once  very  different.  Many  miles  to  the  south,  in  the  desert  of  El-Tih, 
Professor  E.  11.  Palmer^  found  ancient  native  houses  in  perfect  preser- 
vation. They  were  seven  or  eight  feet  in  dinmeter,  or  even  larger, 
built  of  stone  in  a  circular  sha])e,  with  oval  tops,  and  small  doors  about 
two  feet  square,  with  lintels  and  door-posts;  all  the  stones  used  having 
been  so  carefully  selected  as  to  bear  the  appearance  of  having  been 
hewn.  Yet  they  are  certainly  unhewn,  though  those  set  in  the  door- 
way may  have  been  rubbed  smooth  on  other  stones.     In  one  dwelling 

1  Sinai  and  Palestine,  p.  so.    2  Ps.  cxx.  4.     3  Jobxxx.  4.  6  (R.V.).     4  Reland, /Vilosttna,  p.  620. 
6  See  The  Desert  qf  the  Exodus,  2  vols,  (passim),  for  this  and  the  facts  that  come  Immediately  after. 


164 


TIIK   ftOIT   LAND  AND  THK   HIDLK. 


tOBAr. 


a,  flint  ftrrow-hcntl  and  some  small  shells  were  found.  Wore  tlie.se  the 
houses  of  the  old  Amalokites?  It  is  (luite  possible  that  they  were. 
Close  by  thcin  were  some  ptone  circles.  l)o  these  point  to  tiie  ancient 
religion  of  tlio  long- vanished  builders?  Deep  wells  with  troughs 
round  them,  still  in  use  for  flocks  and  herds,  speak  of  the  presence  of 
Arabs  in  numbers,  at  some  seasons  of  the  year,  in  these  thirsty  regions. 
Circular  walls  of  stone,  with  a  det'enoo  of  prickly  bushes  over  them, 
provide  defence  for  man  and  beast.^  All  this  is  in  full  sight  of  the 
mountains  of  Sinai.  The  whole  country  was  at  one  time  inhabited. 
Nearly  every  hill  has  ancient  dwellings  on  its  top,  or  stone  circles. 
Great  cairns,  also,  are  frequent;  raised,  apparently,  over  the  more  or 
less  illustrious  dead.  Whoever  built  them,  whether  Amalekites  or  a 
later  race,  seem  to  have  buried  their  dead  in  short  stone  cofiins,  over 
which  they  piled  the  cairns,  surrounding  these  with  a  stone  circle,  and 
offering  sacrifices  to  the  departed  within  the  ring — for  charcoal  and 
burnt  earth  are  found  inside  it.  Were  these  sacrifices  the  "  offerings 
to  the  dead,"  to  eat  which  was  so  great  a  sin  to  the  Israelites?  The 
custom  still  survives  in  the  ottering  of  sacrifices  at  the  tombs  of 
Mahommedan  saints. 

Spring  is  varied  in  these  desert  regions  south  of  Boersheba  by  fierce 
rains,  dense  sand-storms,  and  oppressive  heat;  but  even  amidst  the 
barest  landscape  Professor  Palmer  came  upon  a  herd  of  160  milch- 
camels,  which  contrived  to  get  food  from  the  stray  broom-plants  and 
thorny  bushes  growing  here  and  there.  At  one  place  he  found  ruins 
in  which  beams  of  acacia- wood  were  still  to  be  seen,  though  no  trees 
of  the  kind  now  grow  in  the  desert.  Could  the  region  have  been 
wooded  at  some  former  time?  Seventy  miles  south  of  Beersheba, 
remains  of  large  numbers  of  the  primitive  stone  houses  are  still  num- 
erous. Ravines  covered  with  vegetation  are  found  at  intervals.  Hills 
rise  on  every  side;  in  some  cases  to  a  height  of  2,000  feet,  but  broad 
stretches  of  plain  lie  between.  In  one  barren,  sunburnt  valley  are  two 
long  low  walls,  to  regulate  irrigation  during  the  rains :  one  180,  the 
other  240  yards  long,  both  verv  carefully  built ;  two  rows  of  stones 
being  beautifully  set  in  a  straight  line,  with  smaller  pebbles  between. 
Other  steps  or  terraces,  all  faced  in  the  same  way  with  stone  walls,  had 
once  sent  vivifying  moisture  over  both  sides  of  the  ravine.  The  whole 
country,  indeed,  though  now,  from  want  of  care  and  failure  of  the 
water  supply,  little  more  than  a  barren  waste,  shows  signs  of  very 
extensive  cultivation,  even  at  a  comparatively  modern  period.  The 
actual  desert,  to  the  south,  was  also  much  mor.3  suited  to  maintain  a 
population  in  former  times  than  it  is  now  ;  the  remains  of  houses,  the 

Eresence  of  wells,  and  the  traces  of  terraces  showing  this.     Fertility 
as,  in  the  course  of  ages,  receded  to  the  north.    One  of  the  most  strik- 

1  S'^e  remarks  on  sheepfolds,  p.  221,  ante. 


[CBAP. 

e.se  tlie 
^  were, 
uueieiit 
roughs 
ence  of 
pegio\i8. 
r  them, 
1  of  the 
labited. 
circleH. 
nore  or 
tes  or  a 
lis,  over 
ole,  and 
ioal  and 
)ftering8 
I?     The 
ombs  of 

3y  fierce 
idst  the 
p  milch- 
mts  and 
nd  ruins 
no  trees 
,ve  been 
ersheba, 
ill  num- 
,     Hills 
it  broad 
are  two 
L80,  the 
If  stones 
itween. 
[lis,  had 
whole 
of  the 
)f  very 
The 
Intain  a 
ses,  the 
(ertility 
It  strik* 


XII.] 


BEERRHfinA. 


166 


ing  charactoristios  of  "  the  Houth  "  is  that  for  miles  tlio  hill-sides  jmd 
valleys  are  covered  with  small  stone-heaps,  in  regular  swatlies,  over 
which  grapes  were  trained,  and  which  still  retain  the  name  of  "grape- 
ds."     The  valley  of  Escliol,  from  which  the  Jewish  spies  carried 


mounu 


off  the  great  bunch  of  grapes,  may  not,  therefore,  have  l)ceii  near 
Ilobron,  as  has  been  supposed,  but  far  south  of  Beersheba,  and  ne  vr  the 
Hebrew  head-quarters  at  Kadesh. 

The  number  of  Christian  churches  in  this  far  southern  region  in  early 
times,  as  shown  by  their  ruins,  is  one  of  the  strangest  features  of  the 
district.  Fifty  miles  from  Beersheba  is  a  cave  cut  out  in  the  rock, 
once  used  for  a  church,  as  may  be  seen  from  the  cro.sscs  and  Cliristian 
signs  on  the  walls.  Near  it,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  wa<ly,  is  a 
much  larger  cave,  also  cut  in  the  hill-side,  with  a  staircase  hewn  out  to 
ler.d  up  to  it :  the  hermitage,  it  would  seem,  of  some  early  monks. 
All  the  hills  round  are  covered  with  ruins  and  stone-heaps,  the  remains 
of  some  primitive  people  ;  and  the  hill-sides  are  crossed  and  recrossed 
by  innumerable  paths.  Perhaps,  one  of  the  "  cities  of  the  south,"  or 
of  Negeb,  was  once  here,  but  if  so  the  country  is  sadly  changed,  for  no 
city  or  village  could  exist  in  it  now.  Nor  are  the  caves  confined  to 
one  spot.  Many  hills  are  i)ierced  with  them.  Professor  Palmer  thinks 
that  the  "  south  country,''  or  "Negeb,"  began  about  fifty  miles  below 
Beersheba,  but  the  signs  of  former  habitation  are  widely  scattered  far 
beyond  this  point.  Thirty-five  miles  south  of  it  a  broad  valley  opens 
out,  covered  with  verdure ;  grass,  asphodel,  and  broom  growing  in 
great  profusion,  flowers  carpeting  the  soil,  immense  herds  of  cattle  pass- 
ing to  the  i)astures  and  to  the  wells,  and  great  flocks  of  fat  sheep  and 
goats  feeding  on  the  neighboring  hills.  Nine  terebinth-trees,  very  old, 
spread  out  their  wide  branches  in  the  valley,  and  give  it  a  pleasant 
aspect.  Terraces,  to  check  the  rush  of  winter  floods,  and  distribute 
them  over  the  whole  of  the  soil,  succeed  each  other  along  its  whole 
length,  just  as  I  saw  them  afterwards  in  the  great  wady  leading  up 
from  Beit  Jibrin  to  Hebron.  A  well-built  stone  aqueduct  carries  w^ier 
from  the  wells  to  a  large  reservoir,  also  built  of  stone;  and  there  are 
ruins  of  si.  ne,  large  buildings.  All  this,  however,  belongs  to  the  dis- 
tant past,  ivther  valleys,  as  we  get  north,  show  fequal  signs  of  former 
diligent  cultivation.  A  fort  and  a  church,  of  which  the  remains  still 
crown  a  hill-top  near,  overlook  countless  walls  and  terraces  built  across 
the  Wady  Hanein,  formerly  a  valley  of  gardens ;  for  though  many  of 
thd  large,  flat,  strongly-embanked  terraces  may  once  have  been  planted 
with  fruit-trees,  and  others  laid  out  as  kitchen  gardens,  jnany  miles 
were  still  left  for  the  cultivation  of  grain.  The  black,  flint-covered 
hill-slopes  round  I'ne  fort  are  covered  with  long  rows  cf  stones,  care- 
fully swept  together  and  piled  into  numberless  black  ]>eaps — the 
mounds  on  which  vines  were  trained.    Yet  all  is  now  desert,  and  has 


m 


ttlE   ttOLV   LAND  AND  THE   BlBLfi. 


iCukP 


I  I 


been  so  for  many  centuries.  Buins  of  forts,  churches,  towns,  terraces, 
grape-mounds,  and  aqueduct*?  are,  in  fact,  numerous  in  all  directions. 
Tiie  ruins  of  Sebaita,  twenty-five  miles  south  of  Beersheba,  cover  a 
space  500  yards  long  and  from  200  to  300  yards  wide,  and  show  the 
remains  of  three  churches,  a  tower,  and  two  reservoirs.  The  houses 
are  of  stone,  undressed  near  the  ground,  hewn  farther  from  it ;  and  are 
all  built,  in  the  lower  stories,  in  arches,  thick  beams  of  stone  being 
placed  across  these  to  form  the  roof.  Nearly  every  house  has  its  well, 
about  two  feet  in  diameter,  and  tiiere  are  many  conveniently  placed  at 
the  street-corners;  the  streets  themselves  being  distinctly  traceable. 
Many  of  the  house- walls  are  still  from  twenty  to  twenty-five  feet  high. 
But  all  is  now  stillness  and  utter  desolation.  Crosses  on  the  houses 
and  in  the  churches  show  that  the  town  was  Christian,  but  how  long 
has  it  been  abandoned  ?  Sebaita  is,  possibly,  the  successor  of  Zephath 
of  the  Bible,  which  Judah  and  Simeon  once  took  from  the  Canaanites, 
so  utterly  destroying  it  that  they  called  its  name  Hormah,  or  "  the 
Desolated  Place."  ^  All  the  way  to  Beersheba  similar  long-deserted 
towns  occur:  a  proof  of  the  great  change  in  the  physical  condition  of 
the  country  within  the  Christian  era.  Cisterns  forty  feet  square,  partly 
hewn  out  of  the  rock,  partly  built ;  broken  Corinthian  capitals;  ruins 
of  churches  and  sites  of  towns,  dot  the  country,  though  as  we  approach 
Beersheba  tlie  stones  have,  in  great  measure,  been  carried  away  to  Gaza 
and  elsewhere,  for  new  buildings.  This  accounts  for  the  absence  of 
similar  remains  in  the  plain  of  Philistia  or  elsewhere,  within  reach  of 
existing  communities;  but  the  region  beyond  them,  dry  and  waste  as 
it  now  is,  shows  what  the  whole  land  must  once  have  been. 

Between  Beersheba  and  Hebron  the  road,  or  rather  track,  lies  through 
the  Wady-el  Khalil — that  is,  the  Hebron  valley,  which  rises  fully 
2,000  feet  in  thirty  miles;  the  whole  way  being  thus  a  rough  climb. 
On  this  re.tired  and  little-travelled  route  evidences  of  dense  population, 
in  former  times,  are  no  less  striking  than  on  the  now  desert,  sand-blown 
South.  Ten  miles  north-east  of  the  Beersheba  wells  are  the  ruins  of  a 
town  among  the  hills,  so  full  of  ancient  wells  and  leseruoirs  that  Pal- 
mer gave  it  the  name  of  "the  City  of  Cisterns,"  a  whole  system  of 
cisterns  literally  undermining  the  hills.  The  houses  are  still  standing, 
in  ruirs,  along  the  crest  of  a  triple  hill;  their  wall?  built  of  huge  blocks 
of  flint  conglomerate,  many  of  which  measure  six  feet  in  length,  four 
in  thickness,  and  two  in  breadth ;  the  houses  formed  ot  them  being 
mostly  of  one  room,  about  tlnrty  feet  by  twenty.  One  large  bi'.ilding 
has  the  appearance  of  a  temple ;  and  the  hills  around  are  still  covered 
with  ruins.  Another  similar  town,  Sa'awi,  lies  about  ten  miles  east  of 
Beersheba.  Fifteen  miles  north-east  of  the  latter  place,  and  1,400  feet 
above  it,  are  the  ruins  of  Dhahariyeh,  ^  at  the  entrance  of  Palestine 

I  Judg.  1. 17.    The  identification  is  very  doubtful.   2  Beerslieba  (level),  781  feet ;  Dbaharly^h,  2, 
IWfeet. 


3haP 

aces, 
ions, 
er  a 
i  the 
)uses 
d  are 
oeing 
well, 
;ed  at 
3able. 
high. 
lOUses 
f  long 
phath 
anites, 
r  "  the 
iserted 
don  of 
partly 
;  ruins 
proach 
io  Gaza 
jnce  of 
iach  of 
aste  as 


Interior  of  a  great  cavern  near  Bet  Jibrlm.   (See  page  188.) 


imi 


BEERSHEBA. 


167 


proper,  ainong  hills  covered  with  vegetation  and  dotted  with  the  dwarf 
oak,  which  fhak  appears  here. 

The  valley  is  Miaked  up  with  strong  walls  and  terraces  of  venerable 
age,  running  along  wh«re  now  there  is  no  cultivation.  Dhahariyeh 
itselt  is  surrounded  with  fieikds,  and  there  are  two  fine  olive-trees  at  the 
foot  of  the  hill  on  which  it  stands.  Its  houses  consist  chiefly  of  caves 
in  the  natural  rock,  some  of  them  with  rude  arches  carved  over  tlie 
doorways,  and  all  of  the  greatest  antk^uity.  Small  terraces  on  the 
hill-side  have  been  chosen  for  the  excavation  of  these  caves,  the  level 
obtained  in  front  being  fenced  round  with  a  aoud  wall,  as  a  courtyard 
before  the  cave  itself;  dogs,  goats,  chickens,  children,  and  other  mem- 
bers of  the  household  using  it  to  take  the  air.  These  strange  dwellings 
must  be  exactl}"^  like  those  of  the  old  Horites,  or  "  Cave-men,"  who,  in 
Abraham's  day,  lived  in  Mount  Seir,^  where  they  were  afterwards 
attacked  and  virtually  exterminated  by  the  children  of  Esau — that  is, 
the  Edomites — who  seized  their  country ,2  with  circumstances  of  horror 
which  are,  perhaps,  referred  to  by  Job,  in  verses  I  have  already  quoted 
in  part.  "Men  in  whom  ripe  age  is,  perished.  They  are  gaunt  with 
want  and  famine :  they  flee  into  the  wilderness,  into  the  gloom  of 
wasteness  and  desolation.  They  pluck  salt- wort  by  the  bushes;  and 
the  roots  of  the  broom  are  their  meat.  They  are  driven  forth  from  the 
midst  of  men;  they  cry  after  them  as  after  a  thief.  In  the  clefts  of  the 
valleys  must  they  dwell,  in  holes  of  the  earth  and  of  the  rocks."^  The 
cave  dwellings  of  Dhahariyeh  have  been  inhabited  by  generation  after 
generation  since  the  days  of  this  forgotten  race.  The  village  evidently 
occupies  an  ancient  site,  the  foundations  of  a  building  of  massive 
masonry,  originally  in  three  arched  apartments,  still  remaining  in  the 
centre  of  it,  while  old  arches  and  other  remains  of  antiquity  appear  at 
every  corner.*  It  brings  us  back,  however,  to  a  more  prosaic  picture 
of  Palestine  as  it  now  is,  to  find,  on  entering  the  three-arched  ruin,  that 
you  are  immediately  covered  with  flen-s,  so  countless  that  you  have  to 
sweep  and  shake  tliem  off'  by  hundreds  from  your  arms,  legs,  and 
clothing.  The  women  are  all  unveiled,  and  all  apparently  ugly,  but 
eager,  poor  creatures,  to  sell  their  eggs  and  chickens  to  strangers,  rush- 
ing out  of  their  caves  as  one  passes,  to  cry  their  wares  in  loud  and 
almost  angry  screams. 

Tell  Arad,  once  a  royal  city  of  the  Canaanites,^  is  now  only  a  large 
white  mound,  about  twenty  miles  slightly  north-east  of  Beersheba; 
and  six  miles  south-west  of  it  is  a  ruined  town,  Keseifeli,  with  the  same 
wreck  of  houses  as  elsewhere,  the  remains  of  a  small  church,  and  traces 
of  tesselated  pavement.  Twelve  or  thirteen  miles  east  of  Beersheba, 
and  about  six  miles  south-east  of  Keseifeh,     e  the  ruins  of  the  ancient 

1  Gen.  xlv.  6.  2  Deut.  II.  12.  22.  X  3'^h  xxx.  2-6  (R.  V.).  See  Ewald,  Oegch.,i.m,  305.  The 
lineage  of  the  Ilovites  is  given  In  Geu.  xx.wi.  20—30;  1  Chron.  i.  38—42.  4  Pal.  Fund  Eeportt,  1870, 
p.  39.    5  Josli.  xil.  14. 


168 


THE  HOLY   LAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


tCEAV. 


Moladah,^  with  two  finely-built  wells  at  the  foot  of  the  hill  on  v/hich 
the  town  stood,  one  ot  them  dry,  but  the  other  containing  good  water, 
with  marble  troughs  round  it,  like  those  at  Beersheba,  Belonging 
first  to  Judah,  Moladah  was  afterwards  handed  over  to  S'meon  with 
whom  it  remained  till  the  Captivity,  after  which  it  became  again  a 
Jewish  community .2  Five  miles  to  the  south  of  it  are  the  rums  of 
Aroer;^  but  the  only  relics  of  the  ancient  city  are  some  wells,  two  or 
three  of  them  built  up  with  rude  masonry,  and  only  a  few  containing 
water.  It  has  been  usual  to  tiiink  of  the  Simeonites  as  having  merely 
a  half-ba»rren  range  of  burnt  upland  pastures  as  their  territory;  but  it 
is  clear  from  the  ruins  that  so  plentifully  cover  the  whole  country,  that 
while  free  to  follow  their  pastoral  prepossessions,  they  had  «ilso,  on 
every  side,  all  the  advantages  of  a  stirring,  civilized  population,  anC  a 
region  capable  of  yielding  everything  they  could  wish. 


CHAPTKR  Xlli. 


GAZA   TO   FALUJi<^H. 


I  STARTED  from  Gaza  to  Hebron  on  the  2nd  of  March,  witli  three 
horses,  three  donkeys,  and  four  men,  the  donkeys  carrvino  two  tents 
and  other  requisites.  Of  the  four  men,  the  first  was  a  yacjk  from  the 
Soudan,  but  he  could  not  tell  his  birtliplacK^.  A  red  fez;  a  loose  old 
cloth  jacket  reaching  to  his  thighs,  the  ei^^ws  showing  i^hemselves 
prominently  through  the  short  sleeves;  a  strijjed  black-and-white 
petticoat  of  l  xed  cotton  and  wool,  and  cott^^i  drawers,  encased  his 
tall  thin  figure,  which  terminated  in  bare  legs,  and  ancient  leatiier 
slippers  with  no  backs.  He  had  married  in  Gaza,  was  perhaps  five- 
and-twenty,  and  laughed  pleasantly  a'l  the  time.  Hamet,  the  second 
donkey-man,  who  was  also  young,  wore  a  white  cotton  skull-cap,  with 
red  worsted-work  setting  it  oft' at  the  edgen;  a  wide  blue  cotton  jacket 
reaching  to  his  thiglis,  with  a  triangle  of  striped  cotton,  edged  with 
red,  for  an  ornament,  down  the  bsick;  a  Htrij)ed  cotton  petticoat,  ove.*  a 
I'V.).^  one.  coming  down  to  his  knees;  his  legs  and  feet  rejoicing  in 
"—-  '  TiiC  +,liird,  Kedwan,  hardly  a  man,  bnt  very  nninlv,  liad  a 


free. 


,(ii. 


blue  ccT'y  )i  gaberdine  with  ;'^leeves,  Pud  over  it  a  sleeveless,  clo"><;-1itting, 
eld  hv<,Vi>  ,ind-\vhite  woolle  i  "abba;"  a  woollen  skull-cap,  with  a 
har.uk'iriihj'or  tied  round  '/■  to  make  it  a  turban:  his  Im/Wu  legs  and 
fef .  V  AH  "  v'>"''      itie  fourtn,  Hajji  fuwa — "  Pilgrim  Jesus  I  ' — a  middle- 

1  di-ah.    V,  ?6',  xix.  2.    2  1  Chfon.  r^  28;  N«b  xi  i6.    3  1  Sam.  xxx,  28. 


liree 
ents 
the 
^.  old 
Ives 
■hite 
1  his 
tlier 
iive- 

COTld 

with 
cket 
witli 
ve.*  a 
lig  in 
lad  a 
tting, 
litU  a 
and 
Iddle- 


XIII.l 


GAZA  TO  PALUJEH. 


169 


aged  man,  who  had  earned  his  title  of  "  Hajji "  by  having  been  at 
Mecca,  wore  a  dirty  white  turban,  a  white  thick  cotton  sack  over  his 
shirt  and  down  to  his  calves,  and  a  leathern  girdle  or  belt  round  his 
waist  to  keep  his  clothes  together;  his  legs  and  feet  being  bare. 

A  fifth  person  joii..:l  our  cavalcade,  to  take  advantage  of  our  com- 
pany, a  tall,  thin  man,  on  a  donkey  so  small  that  his  feet  just  escaped 
the  ground.  .  He  was  a  colporteur,  employed  in  selling  Bibles  and 
Testaments  over  the  country,  and  he  proposed  to  go  with  us  as  far  as 
Beit  Jibrin.  Of  light-brown  complexion,  with  a  long  face  and  long 
Syrian  nose,  but  a  pleasant-lookin;;  man,  with  his  great  black  eyes,  he 
was  decked  out  in  a  fez;  a  striped  blue-and-white cotton,  sleeved, sack, 
reaching  to  his  calves;  white  cotton  trousers ;  stockings,  and  elastic- 
side  boots  past  their  best.  At  the  sides  of  his  microscopic  ass,  under- 
neath him,  were  too  small  saddle-bags  of  old  carpet,  so  far  gone  that  I 
feared  he  might  distribute  part  of  his  stock  of  the  Scriptures  on  the 
road  instead  of  among  the  population.  A  thick  stick  in  his  hand,  and 
a  red  sash,  with  a  revolver  in  it,  round  his  waist,  finished  his  outward 
presentment.  The  missionary  at  Gaza,  my  worthy  friend,  Mr.  Saphir, 
accompanied  me  as  guide  and  companion.  The  hire  of  a  horse  and 
three  asses,  and  of  th/:  rr.en  who  came  with  us,  was  £3  13s.  4d.^  for 
eight  days.  We  had  t  vo  tents,  one  belonging  to  Mr.  Saphir,  the  other 
rented  from  its  own^r  it  Gaza  for  sixpence  a  day  1  These  wonderful 
prices,  of  course,  werp  those  of  private  owners,  not  of  "  Tourists' 
Agencies."  At  Jersual -.n,  or  Joppa,  to  hire  fn  m  an  "Agency"  a 
traveller's  tent,  and  a  c  amnion  one  for  the  men,  with  the  attendants 
and  beasts,  would  have  cost  from  four  to  five  pounds  a  day. 

Out,  then,  and  away — past  the  Tomb  of  Samson,  a  place  of  pilgrim- 
age for  the  Moslem  ;  then  under  the  long  avenues  o^  nciem  olive-trees, 
the  glory  of  Gaza,  towards  Beit  Ilanun.  On  the  dside  sat  a  coun- 
terpart of  blind  BartimaBUS,  turbaned,  cross-legged,  .  a  blue  gaberdine 
with  short  sleeves,  a  stick  by  his  side,  his  h;  d  out  for  charity. 
Blindness  is  a  terribly  prevalent  curse  in  the  Ewst — the  desert  alone 
excepted,  for  a  blind  Bedouin  is  rare.  In  Egypt  has  been  said,  one 
person  in  twenty  is  affected  in  his  eyes,  and  tho  west  estimate  gives 
one  bhnd  in  the  hundred,  while  in  England  ant  N)rway  the  proportion 
is  only  one  in  a  thousand.  It  is  impossible,  inueed,  to  come  upon  any 
number  of  men,  either  in  Palestine  or  on  the  Kile,  without  finding 
some  of  them  sightless.  The  causes  of  this  are  n<  >t  the  heat,  nor  even 
tlie  dust,  so  much  as  the  rapid  changes  of  tenijorature  between  day 
and  night,  which  are  greatest  on  the  sea-coast,  the  special  seat  of  this 
melancholy  evil.  The  inflammation  thus  occasioned  would  not,  how- 
ever, lead  to  a  great  deal  of  blindness  else  when  ;  the  neglect  of  any 
attempt  to  check  the  trouble  is  the  real  explanalion ;  and  this  arises 

1  Twenty-onfl  Medjidieh. 


170 


THE  HOLY  LAND   AND  THE   BIBLE. 


[CHAP, 


partly  from  laziness  and  stupidity,  but  much  more  from  superstitious 
prejudices  against  medical  treatment.  It  is  most  pitiful  to  see  numbers 
of  children  with  ulcere  on  the  cornea  eating  away  the  sight,  without 
any  attempt  being  made  to  cure  the  evil.  Wherever  you  imlt,  the 
blind  come  round  you  with  the  other  cliildren ;  and  it  is  no  wonder 
that  when  the  fame  of  our  Lord  as  the  "  opener  of  the  eyes  "  spread 
abroad,  numbers  of  all  ages  who  were  thus  afflicted  assejnbled  to  ask 
His  gracious  assistance.^  It  would  seem,  indeed,  from  the  more  fre- 
quent mention  of  blindness  in  the  New  Testament  than  in  tlie  Old,  as 
tnough  blindness  had  increased  in  the  course  of  ages,  though  the  law 
of  Moses  curses  "him  tliat  maketh  the  blind'to  wander  out  of  the  way," 
or  "puts  a  stumbling-block  before  him."2  But  I  had  almost  forgotten 
one  great  local  cause  of  blindness,  which  everyone  visiting  the  East 
must  have  noticed:  the  spread  of  eye  disease  through  the  medium  of 
flies.  These  pests  car»y  infection,  on  their  feet  and  proboscis,  from  one 
child  to  another,  numbers  of  them  lighting  on  the  corner  of  the  eye, 
and  never  apparently  being  driven  off".  Mothers,  in  fact,  allow  them  to 
cling  in  half-dozens  round  the  eyes  of  their  babies,  to  ward  oft"  tlie 
"evil  eye " ;  and  it  is  sud  to  see  the  young  creatures  so  habituated  to 
what  would  torture  Western  children  as  never  to  resent  it,  even  by  a 
twitch  of  the  cheek. 

We  passed  Beit  Ilanun,  with  its  dirty  mud  hovels  and  its  rain-pond, 
round  which  a  crowd  of  ragged  children  were  playing,  some  naked 
boys  swimming  and  paddling  in  it,  and  the  village  matrons  filling  their 
jars  from  it  for  household  uses.  A  little  farther  on  we  met  some 
people  going  to  Gaza — one,  a  soldier,  returning  from  the  army,  a  dag- 
ger anr'  pistols  in  his  belt.  As  he  went  by  the  ruffian  broke  out  in 
curses  ai  us  as  Christians;  but  he  reckoned  without  his  host,  for  in  a 
moment  my  fiery  little  missionary  friend,  who  knows  Arabic  as  lie 
does  English,  rode  up  to  him,  his  riding-stick  uplifted,  and  asked  him 
how  he  dared  to  insult  strangers,  ending  by  telling  him  that  he  was 
only  fit  to  fight  women,  not  men!  I  did  not  know  all  this  till  after- 
wards;  but  the  fellow  was  cowed,  and  went  off  as  meekly  as  a  lamb. 

The  broad  plain,  or  rather  rolling  land,  through  which  we  passed, 
was  here  and  there  green  with  lentils  or  barley,  elsewhere  ploughed 
for  summer  crops,  but  in  large  parts  wild  and  untilled;  offering  pas- 
ture for  flocks  of  sheep  and  goats,  and  herds  of  cattle.  The  little  vil- 
lage of  Nejid,  at  the  foot  of  a  little  side-bay  in  the  low  hills  of  the 
Shephelah,  on  our  right,  was  the  first  we  passed  after  leaving  Beit 
Hanun.  Numbers  of  camels,  cattle,  and  calves  fed  on  the  green  recess 
before  the  houses,  which  were  built  only  of  unburnt  bricks  of  black 
earth.  A  number  of  peasants  who  had  put  out  their  right  eye  or 
mutilated  their  thumb,  in  order  to  escape  the  hated  conscription  for 

I  Lake  vli.  21 ;  John  v.  3.   2  Lev.  xix.  14 ;  Deut.  xxvii.  18. 


XIII.l 


GAZA   TO   FALUJEH. 


171 


tlie  Turkish  army,  were  met  on  one  occasion  by  a  traveller  at  this 
place.  Some  of  the  people  were  now  enjoying  a  meal,  in  the  open  air, 
sitting  on  mats  woven  of  straw  or  palm-leaves;  and  it  was  noticeable 
that  all  had  taken  oft' their  shoes,  as  was  evidently  the  custom  among 
the  Hebrews  in  Bible  times,  since  they  were  told  to  keep  on  their  san- 
dals at  the  Passover  supper  as  a  thing  unusual.^  One  or  two  of  the 
houses  were  larger  than  the  rest;  the  best  one  being  built  in  a  succes- 
sion of  rooms  round  a  large  square  court,  of  course  unpaved;  each 
separate  room  with  a  door  for  itself.  The  flat  roof  rested  on  rough 
poles,  covered  with  corn-stalks  and  branches,  over  which  layers  of 
earth  had  been  trodden  and  rolled,  till  the  whole  was  solid.  Great 
corn -bins,  made,  like  the  house  itself,  of  mud,  leaned  against  the  walls 
of  the  rooms,  so  that  the  whole  was,  no  doubt,  very  like  the  simple 
chambers  in  which  the  peasant-king,  Ishbosheth,  was  taking  his  mid- 
day sleep  when  he  was  murdered.^  Two  Mahommedans  near  found  it 
was  one  of  their  hours  of  prayer,  and  liaving  spread  their  "abbas"  on 
the  ground,  they  turned  their  faces  to  Mecca  and  began  their  fervent 
devotions.  In  these,  the  words  "Allah  is  great"  were  repeated  eight 
times,  and  then  they  kneeled  down  and  tc-hed  the  ground  with  their 
foreheads.  It  must  have  been  much  the  iii'iie  with  th«  ancient  Israel- 
ites, for  the  word  "  Selah,"  which  so  often  stands  at  the  end  of  a  verse, 
means  simply  "Bow;"  tlius  giving  directions  to  the  supplicant  in  this 
particular.^ 

The  people  are  very  friendly,  and,  as  a  rule,  very  honest,  for  I  was 
told  of  a  case  where  a  traveller  having  paid  for  some  bread  which  was 
not  yet  baked,  and  having  left  before  he  got  it,  the  son  of  the  house 
rode  after  him  for  five  or  six  miles,  to  give  him  the  piastre's^  worth 
he  should  have  had  before.  A  mile  north  of  Nejid  we  passed  through 
Simsim,  which  lies  pleasantly  on  a  low  hill,  amidst  trees.  Large  herds 
of  cattle  and  flocks  of  sheep  grazed  here  and  there  in  the  little  valleys 
among  the  hills,  or  on  the  sloj;>es.  Was  it  in  this  rich  district  that 
"  King  Uzziah  hewed  out  many  cisterns  in  the  wilderness,  for  he  had 
much  cattle;  both  on  the  Shephelah  or  low  hill-land,  and  in  the 
Mishor,"  or  smooth  plains,  free  from  rocks,  from  which  the  Shephelah 
rises ?^  The  sun  shone  very  hot  from  a  cloudless  sky,  though  it  was 
only  the  beginning  of  March,  and  the  peasants  were  eagerly  awaiting 
the  latter  rains,  which  in  the  East  are  necessary,  before  the  long  heat 
of  summer,  to  fill  out  the  ears  of  the  corn,  and  swell  the  fruit,  and  thus 
have  always  been  held  so  specially  precious  that  in  Proverbs  we  read 
of  the  favor  of  a  king  being  "as  a  cloud  of  the  latter  rain."^  Thus, 
also.  Job  describes  the  fervor  with  which  his  words  had  been  listened 
to  in  the  dayy  of  his  prosperity  by  saying  that  his  hearers  opened  their 

lEx.xll.ll.    2  2  9ain.lv.  5, 6.    3  Hitzig,  Ps.  iil,  2.   4  2}<a.   6  UChron.  xjcvj.  10  (Heb).    0  PiOY, 
xvl.  18. 


172 


THK    HOLY   LAXn   AN!>  THE   BTBLE. 


[Chap. 


mouths  wide  for  thcni,  ns  for  tlio  latter  rain.*  It  this  supremo  blessing  ■ 
fail,  the  earth  becomes  like  copper  for  hardness,  under  a  sun  which 
shines  down  as  a  sphere  of  molten  iron;-*  and  the  result  is  that  there 
is  little  or  no  harvest.  Most  Justly,  th';  Hebrews  regarded  such  a 
calamity  as  a  punishment  for  their  sins,  aiul  raised  their  cries  to  Him 
"who  waters  tlie  liirrows  and  moistens  the  rid<^es  of  the  tield,  making 
it  soft  with  showers,  and  blessing  its  fruit." -^  One  could  realize  on 
broad,  treeless  uplands,  witiiout  brool.s  or  s])rini;a,  ll»o  yearning  ear- 
nestness of  the  Psalmist  after  (uxl  when  lie  says,  "  \ly  soul  thirsteth  for 
thee,  my  flesh  longeth  i'or  thee,  in  a  dry  and  thirsty  land  where  no 
water  is."* 

There  are  three  words  in  Hebrew  tor  the  rains  of  different  seasons, 
and  these,  very  strikingly,  are  all  Umnd  in  one  verse  of  Hosea,*''  "He 
will  come  unto  us  as  the  luvuv  winter  rain,''  as  the  latter  rain'^  and 
the  former  rain  *  upon  the  earth  ^' — tonu*.  that  is,  in  fullness  of  blessing, 
like  the  triple  rainfall  that  covers  the  earth  with  corn.  In  Joel,  also, 
the  three  occur  together.  "  Ho  will  cause  to  come  d'nvn  for  you  the 
heavy  winter  rain,*  the  early  rain,*^  and  the  latter  rain,''  as  in  former 
times,  and  the  floors  shall  be  full  of  wheat.""  The  translation  of  the 
befiitiful  description  of  sjiring  in  Canticles *^  is  not  true  to  nature,  in 
either  the  lievised  Version  or  the  Authorized,  for  the  flowers  appear 
on  the  earth,  and  the  time  of  the  singing  of  the  birds  comes,  at  least 
six  weeks  before  the  rain  is  over  and  gone.  It  is  when  the  heavy 
winter  rain®  ce;\ses,  and  the  warnj  spring  weather  begins,  that  tie  flow- 
ers appear,  tlu  lirds  sing,  and  the  voice  of  the  turtle  is  heard,  but  it  is 
precisely  during  this  time  that,  at  intervals,  the  latter  rain'^  I'alls.  It 
IS  of  the  heavy  winter  rain*'  that  Genesis  speaks  in  the  story  of  the 
Flood,  as  continuing  lor  forty  days  and  forty  nights,  though  rains  alone 
would  not  hiive  caused  that  awful  catastrophe.  In  the  same  heavy 
winter  storms'"'  the  )>eople  assembled  by  Ezra  to  take  action  respecting 
the  mixed  marriages  whicli  had  prevailed,  "  sat  in  the  street  of  the 
house  of  God,  trembling  because  of  this  matter,  and  for  the  great  rain," 
so  that,  at  last,  they  represented  to  the  authorities  that  it  was  "  a  time 
of  much  ra'M,  and  we  are  not  able  to  stand  without,"  and  on  this 
ground,  among  oihore,  were  allowed  \o  go  hojne.^^ 

The  first,  or  early  rain  moistens  the  land,  fitting  it  for  the  reception 
of  seed,  and  is  thas  the  signal  for  the  commencement  of  ploughing.  It 
generally  bogins  in  October  or  November,  falling  at  intervals  till 
December.  The  plentiful  winter  rains  which  soak  the  earth,  fill  the 
cisterns  and  pools,  and  replenish  the  springs,  come,  also  at  intervals, 
from  the  middle  of  December  to  MhtcIi.  The  latter,  or  spring  rain, 
which  fills  out  the  ears  of  corn,  and  enables  it  to  withstand  the  drought 

1   Job  Kxix.  28.     2   Lev.  xxvl.  19.     S  ?*.  Ixv.  9.     4  Ps.  Ixill.  L     5  Hos.  vl.  3.     6  "<3e8hein," 
7  "  SlalliosU."   8  "  Yoreb  "  or  "  njoreh."   y  vNwl  H.  23.   lO  Cant.  U.  U.   11  Ezra.  x.  9, 18- 


XIII.] 


OAZA  TO   FALUJKH. 


173 


Iption 

It 

till 

the 

rvals, 

rain, 

)ught 

iem," 


before  harvest,  lasts,  with  bright  days  between,  from  the  middle  of 
March  till  tlie  rains  fniallv  cease  in  April  or  May.  From  th-^t  time 
till  the  first  rain  of  the  late  autumn,  the  sky  is  usually  cloudless,  and 
vegetation  depends  on  the  fertilizing  night-mist,  the  "  dew "  of  our 
Bible,  borne  over  the  land  from  the  Mediterranean  during  the  night. 

At  Bureir,  280  feet  above  the  sea,  and  about  twelve  miles  in  a 
straight  line  ft'oni  Gaza,  we  halted,  at  one  o'clock,  for  refreshments. 
The  mud  houses  were  built  in  clumps,  if  I  may  so  speak,  with  a  large 
open  space  l>etweeu  them,  in  which  there  was  an  old  square  wall  round 
a  large  and  deep  well,  with  marble  pillars  from  some  ancient  building, 
now  wholly  vanished,  laid  alongside,  as  a  step  up  to  the  water,  or  a 
rest  lor  water-pitchers,  one  of  the  pillars  being  hohowed  out  to  form  a 
trough.  Mounds  of  grain,  thickly  covered  with  kneaded  mud  bricks, 
to  keep  out  the  rain  and  the  vermin,  rose  here  and  there,  and  small 
herds  of  cattle  dotted  the  pasture  outside  the  village.  A  large  mud- 
banked  water-pond,  with  very  muddy-looking  contents,  supplied  the 
wants  of  the  households,  at  least  to  some  extent.  Close  to  the  houses 
was  an  underground  cistern  inside  a  wall  of  round  stones,  but  it  was 
now  broken  and  disused.  This  abandonment  of  such  water-pits  is 
inevitable,  if  the  cement  with  which  they  are  lined  give  way.  They 
are,  then,  "  broken  cisterns,  that  can  hold  no  water."  ^  It  is  v/onderful 
what  a  number  of  these  subterranean  reservoirs"  there  are  in  the  Holy 
Land.  In  Upper  Galilee  they  honevcomb  the  ground  in  some  places, 
and  we  have  seen  how  they  abound  even  so  far  south  as  below  Beer- 
sheba.  They  are  either  hewn  in  the  native  rock  or  dug  in  the  earth, 
and  then  built  up  with  masonry  ;  but  the  rock  is  often  porous,  so  that 
the  water  passes  through  it  and  leaves  them  dry  and  useless  for  their 
original  purpose.  N'lrrowed  at  the  top,  so  as  to  resemble  a  huge  bot- 
tle, they  are  terrible  prisons,  if  one  fall  into  them,  as  sometimes  hap- 
pens, for  it  is  impossible  to  get  out  unaideci.  It  was  in  such  a  dungeon 
that  Joseph  was  put,  at  Dothan,  where  '•-.'sterns  are  sti'i'i  to  be  seen — his 
prison,  perhaps,  among  them  ;  and  it  wa.-  in  another  that  Jeremiah  sat, 
amid  the  mire,  in  Jerusalem.  Some  are  so  large,  as  at  Ramleh,  that 
the  roof  is  supported  by  pillars.  The  mouth  is  now,  as  of  old,  covered 
by  one  or  more  stone  slabs,  with  a  hole  left  in  the  middle  for  a  rope, 
though  when  not  wanted  this  hole  also  is  closed  with  a  heavy  stone. 
Anciently,  also,  as  now,  full  cisterns  were  often  concealed  by  a  cover- 
ing of  earth  over  the  mouth,  so  that  no  one  but  their  owner  could  find 
them.  So,  the  Spouse,  in  Canticles,  was  "  a  fountain  sealed  "  to  all  but 
him  whom  her  soul  loved :  she  was  his  alone.'^ 

A  second  well,  with  a  water-wheel,  shows  Bureir  to  be  exceptionally 
favored,  one  result  being  that  there  is  a  garden  south  of  the  village, 
while  some  palms  and  tamarisks  shoot  up  among  the  houses.    The 
lJer.ii.l3.  2  Cant  It.  12. 


174 


THK    HOLY   LAND   AND  THE   BIBLE. 


[GUAP. 


slopn  near  showed,  in  one  direction,  rich  brown  ploughed  land,  as  far 
as  the  eye  could  reach,  cumeli  aiid  oxen  being  still  busy  adding  to  the 
tillage.  A  great  flock  of  white  sheep,  belonging  to  tent  Arabs, 
passed  on  its  way  to  pasture ;  and  in  the  circle  of  the  landscape,  beaidea 
the  ploughed  land  and  that  which  lay  wild,  thousands  of  acres  were 
beautiful  with  the  first  green  of  barley  and  wheat.  Spreading  a  mat 
below  a  rough  cactus-hedge  which  gave  some  shadow,  we  sat  down  on 
the  grassy  edge  of  the  road  opposite  the  rain-tank,  and  comforted  our- 
selves with  some  bread  and  hard  eggs,  washed  down  by  a  draught  of 
delicious  "  leben,"  or  sour  n^oats'  milk,  brought  by  the  Hajji  from  one 
of  the  houses.  Some  of  the  villagers  were  enjoying  their  midday  rest  in 
the  shadow  of  a  mud  wall  on  the  other  side  of  the  open  vilUage  "  green," 
which,  however,  was  only  dx^sty  earth,  their  heads  resting  peacefully 
on  stones  for  pillows,  the  thick  windings  of  their  turbans  saving  them 
from  feeling  the  hardness.  Just  so,  doubtless,  was  it  that  Jacob  slept 
at  Bethel.^  His  turban  would  helj)  him  to  forget  the  stone,  and,  like 
the  poor  fellows  before  me,  it  would  be  nothing  new  for  him  to  sleep 
in  his  clothes,  for  it  is  an  Oriental  custom  to  do  so.  All  through  Pal- 
estine the  men  in  attendance  on  our  tents  lay  down  at  night  in  the 
clothes  they  always  wore,  and  I  have  no  doubt  they  looked  on  me  as 
supremely  foolish  for  undressing.  Among  the  ancient  Hebrews  a 
neighbor's  raiment  was  not  to  be  taken  in  pledge,  or,  at  least,  was  to 
be  given  back  by  sunset,  as  that  in  which  he  slept.'^  A  palm-leaf  mat 
spread  on  the  floor  serves  for  a  bed  among  the  poor,  or  they  lie  on  the 
bare  earth  ;  but,  in  the  better  houses,  beds  are  made  up  on  the  divan, 
or  seat,  which  runs  along  the  wall  in  the  best  room :  a  framework  of 
laths  of  palm,  or  a  solid  bank  of  clay,  covered  with  cushions.  Some 
rich  houses  have  bedsteads,  but  they  are  not  common.  At  Beit  Jibrin 
I  got  thick  quilted  coverlets,  of  silk  on  the  one  side,  in  the  sheikh's 
house  ;  but  whether  they  were  to  cover  me,  or  for  me  to  lie  upon,  1  do 
not  know.  I  used  them  for  both  purposes,  as  I  had  to  stretch  myself 
on  the  hard  plaster  floor. 

The  broad  open  plain,  insensibly  rising  to  the  hills,  opened  to  a  great 
width  as  we  approached  Falujeh,  in  the  afternoon.  Unenclosed,  it 
offered  tempting  pasture-ground  to  the  gazelles  which  abounded  in  the 
uplands  and  kindly  allowed  me  a  sight  of  a  small  flock  of  them  as  I 
rode  on.  Graceful  and  fleet,  they  lent  themselves  readily  to  metaphor 
among  the  old  Israelites,  ever  so  attentive  to  the  natural  objects 
around  them.  The  Arab  word  "  gazelle  "  is  not  met  with  in  our  Bible, 
but  there  is  no  doubt  that  when  "roebuck"  occurs,  the  name  of  this 
graceful  antelope  should  have  been  used.  It  was  no  use  to  chase 
them ;  the  swiftest  horse  was  left  hopelessly  behind.  The  Hebrews 
knew  the  creature  well,  and  Solomon  had  it  as  one  of  the  viands  on 

1  Gen.  zxviil.  11.   3  Ezod.  xxii.  27;  Deut.  xxiv.  13. 


XIII.] 


GAZA   TO   FALUJEH. 


176 


this 
lase 

on 


his  luxurious  tables.^  Asahel's  fleetness  is  compnred  to  that  for  which 
it  is  famous:  "He  was  as  light  of  foot  as  a  gazelle  in  the  open." ^ 
The  men  of  Gad  who  swam  the  Jordan  when  it  was  in  flood,  to  join 
David,  are  said  to  have  had  faces  like  lions,  and  to  have  been  as  swift 
as  the  gazelles  on  the  mountains.^  Babylon  is  called  by  Isaiah  "  the 
gazelle  of  kingdoms"*  for  its  beauty;  and,  indeed,  this  comparison 
was  a  common  one  in  the  mouths  of  the  prophets  *  "  My  beloved,'' 
says  Sulamith,  in  the  Canticles,  "is  like  a  gazelle,  leaping  upon  the 
mountains,  skipping  upon  the  hills."®  Five  times  does  she  introduce 
this  graceful  creature  in  her  song  of  love.'  It  is  tlie  commonest  of  all 
the  large  pame  in  Palestine,  and,  in  the  south,  is  sometimes  met  with 
in  herds  of  nearly  a  hundred.  Nor  is  it  found  only  in  the  lonelier 
parts.  Dr.  Tristram  saw  a  little  troop  feeding  on  the  Mount  of  Olives, 
close  to  Jerusalem.* 

The  village  boys  were  at  play  in  the  open  centre  of  Fnlujch — busy 
making  dirt  pies,  and  striving  at  a  game  of  ball,  just  as  Jerusalem,  in 
old  times,  was  full  of  boys  and  girls  playing  in  the  streets.®  It  is  a 
moderate-sized  place,  with, a  rain-pond  and  two  fine  wells,  at  which 
one  always  sees  women  busy  drawing  water  ;  and  there  was  the  usual 
sprinkling  of  idlers  lying  in  the  sun.  It  stands  on  flat  ground,  and 
there  is  a  patch  of  garden  on  one  side ;  but  the  people,  as  everywhere 
else,  seem  generally  very  poor.  The  flocks  and  herds,  as  I  have  said, 
belong,  as  a  rule,  to  the  Arabs,  and  the  Government  grinds  the  face  of 
the  peasantry  with  arbitrary  taxation  till  they  have  barely  a  subsis- 
tence left.  I  am  afraid,  however,  that  it  was  ver^'^  little  better  in  Bible 
times,  for  there  are  no  fewer  than  ten  words  for  the  poor  in  the  Old 
Testament,  and  these  occur,  in  all,  about  260  times,  while  five  words, 
besides,  refer  to  poverty  in  some  way.^''  In  Deuteronomy  we  are  told 
that  "  the  poor  shall  never  cease  out  of  the  land;"^^  and  now  the  trav- 
eller finds  it  difficult  to  believe  that  there  are  any  who  are  not  poor 
beyond  what  Western  people  can  imagine.  The  depopulation  of  the 
land,  also,  strikes  the  traveller  very  much  as  he  passes  through  it.  He 
frequently  comes  across  an  extensive  landscape,  in  which  he  can  only 
discern,  here  and  there,  a  small  village  consisting  of  a  few  wretched 
mud  huts. 

Close  to  the  village  were  some  Arab  tents,  to  which  we  turned,  my 
friend  proposing  that  we  should  visit  them.  They  were  of  black  cam- 
els'-hair  cloth,  which  is  quite  soft,  like  coarse  wool.  A  rude  frame  of 
short  poles  had  been  raised,  in  a  very  rickety  way,  and  over  this  had 
been  stretched  the  tent-cover,  hanging  down  to  the  ground  at  the  back 
and  ends,  and  leaving  the  front  open  ;  the  cloth  which,  at  the  will  of 
the  occupants,  closed  this  part  also,  in  storms  or  at  other  times,  being 

1  lKlngsiv.23.  22Sam.ii.l8.  3  1  Chron.x  1.8.  4  Isa. xlii.  19.  6  Ezek.xx.6,15;  xxv.9;  Dan. 
vlll.9;  xi:i6.41(Heb.).  6  Cant.  II.  8,  9.  7  Cant.  11.7,9. 17:  HI.  5;  vill.  14.  S  Tr\atmm,  Nat.  Hint,  qf 
the  Bible,  p.  180.   9  Zech.  viii.  6.   10  See  Engliehman't  Heb.  Ooncordancei "  poor."   11  Deut.  xv.  11. 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


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t^lM    12.5 

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mm  m22 
2.0 


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14^0 


IE 

U    1 1.6 


^ 


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Photographic 

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Corporation 


as  WBT  MAM  STRUT 

WIISnR,N.Y.  145M 
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^ 

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V 

^ 


176 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


[Chap. 


thrown  back  on  the  roof.  In  shape,  this  strange  dwelling  was  exactly 
like  an  open  shed.  The  earth  was  its  only  floor.  A  small  fire  of 
wood  smouldered  in  the  centre,  the  smoke  finding  its  own  way  out. 
In  one  corner — the  right — was  a  pile  of  dried  stalks,  &c.,  for  fuel;  in 
the  other  were  some  arms — guns,  pistols,  and  swords — hung  from  the 
poles,  which,  by  the  way,  were  not  all  of  the  same  height  or  length,  so 
that  the  back  of  the  tent  seemed  broken.  A  carpet  was  brought  from 
the  v'omen's  apartment,  which  was  simply  a  third  of  the  tent,  divided 
from  the  rest  by  a  hanging  cloth,  and  concealed  in  part  by  the  curtain 
being  let  down  in  front.  Just  such  must  have  been  his  mother  Sarah's 
tent,  into  which  Isaac  brought  Eebekah.i  There  were  in  all  ten  men 
in  or  about  the  tent:  one  was  lying  all  his  length  on  his  back,  on  the 
ground,  fast  asleep  in  his  clothes — a  saddle  his  pillow ;  a  black  slave, 
with  a  gaudy  "  kefiyeh,"  was  as  much  at  home  as  anyone,  and  treat'ed, 
apparently,  on  the  same  footing  as  the  rest;  the  others  were  standing, 
sitting^  or  lounging  about.  Coflfeeberries  were  presently  brought  out, 
and  having  been  put  into  a  rude  stone  mortar,  were  brayed  with  a 
piece  of  wood  for  a  pestle,  just  as  at  times,  only  on  a  larger  scale,  wheat 
IS  crushed.  It  reminded  me  of  the  words  in  the  Proverbs :  "  Though 
thou  shouldest  bray  a  fool  in  a  mortar  among  wheat  with  a  pestle,  yet 
will  not  his  foolishness  depart  from  him."^  The  operation  was  carried 
out  on  the  ground,  for  there  was  neither  table,  chair,  nor  stool.  It 
appeared  that  these  Arabs  belonged  to  the  tribe  a  member  of  which 
had  committed  the  recent  murder  in  Gaza,  of  which  I  have  spoken* 
and  that  they  had  pitched  their  tents  close  to  the  village  in  order 
to  have  what  protection  it  afforded  against  a  sudden  attack 
from  the  tribe  of  the  victim.  All  their  flocks  and  herds  were 
with  them,  so  that  they  might  enjoy  the  security  yielded  by  the  village 
street.  A  small  cup  of  coffee,  profuse  salaams,  and  a  very  formal 
leave-taking,  ended  the  visit,  and  we  remounted  our  horses  for  3!^eit 
Jibrin. 

The  Arabs  are,  as  a  race,  very  ignorant  and  childish.  None  of  them 
know  how  old  they  are,  nor  can  they  tell  how  long  ago  it  may  have 
been  since  any  event  in  their  history  occurred,  unless  they  chance  to 
remember  the  number  of  harvests  between  then  and  now.  As 
we  rode  slowly  on  I  enjoyed  flome  stories  about  them,  gathered 
from  the  wide  experience  of  my  friend.  A  Bedouin,  who  lived  with 
him  in  Gaza  for  a  time,  came  one  morning,  radiant  of  countenance. 
"  What  has  happened  ?  "  "  Oh,  my  wife  has  a  son ! "  By  night,  how- 
ever, his  happiness  had  passed  into  sadness.  "  What  has  happened?" 
"Ah,  the  bov  has  turned  out  to  be  a  girl!"  His  wife's  mother  had 
been  so  frightened  lest  he  should  divorce  her  daughter  for  having  a 
girl,  that  she  lad  pretended  it  was  a  son.  In  another  case  a  husband, 
1  Oen.  xxiv.  67.  ;  Prov.  xxvli.  22.   3  See  page  16ft. 


View  from  Beit  Jibrin  toward  the  Mediterrauean.    (See  page  198.) 


XIII.] 


OAZA  TO  I*ALVJfiH. 


177 


anxious  to  be  the  father  of  a  son,  solemnly  vowed  that  he  would 
divorce  his  wife  if  she  had  a  girl.  Unfortunately,  she  had  twin  daugh- 
ters. The  poor  fellow,  however,  really  loved  his  wife,  and  racked  his 
brains  to  get  out  of  his  oath.  At  last  he  solved  tlie  dif&cultv.  "  I 
said  I,  would  divorce  her  if  she  had  a  daughter,  but  not  if  she  had 
two;"  and  so  he  kept  her.  How  forcibly  such  incidents  remind  one 
of  the  words  of  Jeremiah :  "  Cursed  be  the  man  who  brouglit  tidings 
to  thy  father,  saying,  A  man  child  is  born  unto  thee ;  making  him 
very  glad;"^  or  those  of  our  Lord:  "A  woman  hath  sorrow,  but  as 
soon  as  she  is  delivered  of  the  child  she  remembereth  the  sorrow  no 
more,  for  joy  that  a  man  is  born  into  the  world."  ^  Indeed,  so  proud 
is  a  husband  of  a  son,  that  he  is  henceforth  known  only  as  "  the  father 
of  Mahomet,"  or  whatever  be  the  name  given  to  the  child.  We  may 
from  this  imagine  the  eagerness  with  which  Abraham  and  Sarah 
longed  for  an  heir  to  their  great  possessions,  and  how  great  the  trial  of 
the  patriarch's  faith  must  have  been  when  be  was  asked  to  ofter  as  a 
sacrifice,  with  his  own  hand,  the  child  at  last  given  to  him. 

On  one  occasion,  my  friend  and  a  German  savant,  travelling  in 
Palestine,  came  to  an  Arab  encampment,  at  which  they  were  hospitably 
received.  The  German,  however,  took  the  notion  of  photographing 
the  sons  of  the  desert,  and  proceeded  to  get  ready  his  apparatus. 
Knowing  the  ignorance  and  superstition  of  the  race,  his  companion 
was.alarmed,  and  begged  him  to  desist,  since  the  Bedouins  might  think 
he  was  working  a  charm  for  their  hurt,  in  which  case  they  would 
have  no  scruple  in  cutting  their  throats.  Luckily  the  sheikh's  son  got 
them  out  of  the  dilemma.  "Oh,"  said  he,  " that  is  a  far-see-er"  — 
the  Arab  name  for  a  telescope.  "  You  will  be  able  to  look  through  it 
and  see  the  mosques  at  Gaza" — which,  by  the  way,  was  far  below  the 
horizon.  Out  the  whole  camp  sallied,'  and  sat  down,  looking  at  what 
was  going  on,  so  that  an  excellent  photograph  was  obtained.  This 
achieved,  the  company  were  invited  to  look  through  the  camera. 
After  a  time  the  young  wiseacre,  who  had  been  at  Gaza  and  Jo[)pa, 
where  he  had  seen  a  telescope,  came  up,  with  no  little  fear,  and  putting 
liis  eye  t  the  glass,  shouted  that  he  not  only  saw  the  mosques,  but  the 
muezzin  on  them,  calling  the  faithful  to  prayers.  Nor  did  he  after- 
wards flinch.  At  Gaza  he  maintained  to  the  governor,  when  that 
dignitary  called  at  the  house  of  my  friend,  that  he  could  recognize  the 
muezzin,  for  when  he  looked  through  the  glass  he  saw  his  face! 

The  peasantry  and  the  Bedouins  have  little  love  for  each  other — as 
little  as  the  lamb  and  the  wolf.  The  Bedouins,  in  fact,  speak  with 
the  greatest  contempt  of  the  fellah,  and  a  marriage  between  the  two 
races  is  very  rare.  The  desert  which  surrounds  Palestine  to  the  east 
and  south  is  the  true  home  of  the  tent  tribes;  but  the  temptation  to 

iJer. XX.  15.   2Jobnxvi.21. 


17d 


THE  HOLT  LAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


tCHAfr. 


seek  better  pastures  lures  small  encampments  to  loam  over  all  the  out- 
lying parts  of  the  settled  land.  Thus  we  find  them  in  many  parts  of 
the  plains  of  Philistia  and  Sharon,  and  on  the  hills  of  the  Shephelah. 
Old  sites  appear  to  have  a  special  charm  for  these  fragments  of  once- 
powerful  tribes.  Tiie  vales  of  Sharon  are  one  of  their  favorite  haunts ; 
out  on  the  plains  they  have  learned  to  use  the  plough  and  pay  taxes, 
which,  of  course,  degrades  them  in  the  eyes  of  their  brethren  of  the 
desert.  They  do  not,  however,  live  in  houses,  but  in  tents,  and  look 
on  the  dwellers  in  the  mud  cottages  as  infinitely  beneath  them.  As  of 
old,  when  the  Midianites  overran  the  best  of  the  land,  the  desert  tribes 
are  constantly  on  the  look-out  for  a  chance  to  invade  the  country  in 
force,  and  are  only  kept  back  by  the  presence  of  Turkish  soldiery. 
When  war  calls  these  away,  the  wave  of  barbarism  at  once  advances ; 
the  commons  of  the  villages  are  overrun,  and  blackmail  is  extorted 
wherever  possible.  It  is  not  many  years  since  the  whole  plain  of 
Esdraelon  was  covered  with  the  tents  of  the  Eastern  Arabs  from  the 
desert,  who  had  come  to  harry  the  land,  and  even  hold  it,  if  possible, 
and  who  were  only  driven  back  by  a  strong  Turkish  force. 

It  is  striking  to  see  how  exactly  modern  Arab  life  illustrates  that  of 
the  patriarchal  age.  In  passing  an  Arab  encampment  you  may  see 
some  elder  of  the  tribe  sitting,  as  Abrahani  did,  in  the  shade  of  the 
open  side  of  his  tent,  in  the  h^at  of  the  day}  and  you  may  very  pos- 
sibly be  entreated  by  him  to  take  advantage  of  the  coolness  he  is 
enjo3'ing,  and  may  get  water  poured  over  your  feet,  if  you  accept  the 
invitation;  some  quickly-cooked  meal  being  presently  ordered  to  be 
set  before  you.  The  same  grave  courtesy  at  meeting  will  be  seen  now 
as  then ;  the  slave  will  pour  th«  water  on  your  feet  from  much  the  same 
kind  of  long-spouted  copper  vessel,  as  you  hold  them  over  a  metal 
basin  of  a  pattern  that  has  tiot,  perhaps,  clianged  for  millenniums. 
The  sheikh  will  hurry  to  his  wife  in  "the  woman's  tent," 2  and  tell 
her,  as  the  queen  of  tne  encampment,  to  "make  ready,  quickly,  some 
measures  of  fine  meal,"  that  is,  the  finest  and  purest  she  has ;  and  she 
will,  herself,  take  her  kneading-trough  and  prepare  the  dough,  while 
some  slave-girl  kindles  a  fire  of  grass  or  stalks,  on  which  to  lay 
the  iron  plate  for  baking.  Or  the  mistress  may,  perhaps,  prefer  to 
light  the  fire  over  a  small  bed  of  stones  and  heat  them,  so  that  her 
thin  cakes  may  be  baked  upon  them  after  the  fire  is  swept  off,  just  as 
the  cake  of  Elijah  was  "baken  on  the  hot  stones;  "^  or  in  her  haste 
she  may  cover  them  with  the  hot  ashes,  to  quicken  the  baking,  as  the 
Hebrew  text  seems  to  imply  was  done  by  Sarah.  It  would,  indeed, 
take  very  little  time,  in  any  .case,  to  prepare  such  thin  "  scones  "  as 
Arabs  still  use.  You  could  hardly  expect,  however,  that  the  same 
honor  would  be  done  you  as  was  shown  to  guests  so  illustrious  as 

1  Gen.  XTiii  2-12.   2Gen.xvlii.6(Hel>.)-    S  1  Kings  xiz.  6  (Heb.). 


XlU.l 


QA2A  TO  FALUJEH. 


179 


those  of  Abraham.  An  Arab  very  rarely  kills  a  calf,  as  the  patriarch 
did ;  it  needs  a  great  occasion  to  call  for  such  an  unusual  liberality.  You 
may  count  on  a  chicken,  or  a  male  kid — for  female  kids  are  carefully 
preserved ;  but  a  calf  is  only  for  some  very  eminent  guest.  Repentant 
Israel  could  not  more  earnestly  promise  fervent  gratitude  for  the  for- 
giveness they  implored  than  by  saying  they  would  render  the  calves  of 
their  lips^  — the  best  they  could  give — the  most  thankful  and  heart- 
felt acknowledgements.  Nor  could  the  father  of  the  prodigal  son 
better  show  the  yearning  love  he  felt  towards  his  restored  child  than 
by  calling  aloud  to  kill  even  the  fatted  calf,  to  greet  liis  return.^  If 
special  guests  arrive,  an  Arab  sheikh  will  even  now  kill  a  calf,  as 
Abraham  did,  in  their  honor;  himself,  like  the  patriarch,  running  to 
the  herd  to  fetch  it.  The  same  rapidity  in  dressing  it  will  Le  shown : 
the  fowl,  the  kid,  or  part  of  the  calf  which  you  have  just  seen  alive, 
will  be  served  up  in,  perhtips,  half  an  hour.  It  has  always  been  the 
rule,  as  in  the  time  of  St.  reter,  that  killing  and  eating*  follow  each 
other  without  any  considerable  interval.  You  still,  like  the  guests  of 
Abraham,*  get  curdled  milk  or  "leben,"  with  milk  fresh  from  the 
goat  as  the  beverage  at  your  meal,  and  you  still  sit  on  the  floor  and 
dip  your  hand  into  a  common  dish,'^  set  in  the  middle,  between  all  the 
company,  using  pieces  of  your  thin  broad  for  spoons,  to  raise  to  the 
mouth  the  gravy  of  the  stew,  or,  it  may  be,  the  mixture  of  meat  and 
rice.  Abraham's  tent  was  always,  when  possible,  pitched  under  the 
shade  of  a  tree,  just  as  the  tents  of  the  Arabs  are  now,  where  trees 
can  be  found.  At  Shechem  and  at  Hebron^  he  sought  the  shadow  of 
an  oak ;  at  Beersheba  he  planted  a  tamarisk-grove,  to  get  shade  as 
soon  as  the  plants  had  grown.'  And  just  as  Abraham  "  stood  by"  his 
guests  under  the  tree,  and  waited  on  them,  so  the  sheikh,  your  enter- 
tainer,  stands  beside  you  to-day ;  his  wife,  like  Sarah,  close  at  hand, 
but  hidden  behind  the  curtain  of  the  women's  part  of  the  tent,  watch- 
ing all  that  is  going  on. 

When  there  is  no  dried  grass  or  other  light  natural  fuel,  the  Arab 
uses  dried  camels'-dung,  as  the  Tartars  do,  or  cakes  of  cow-dung,  made 
by  the  women.*  Abraham's  encampment  must  have  consisted  of  a 
great  many  tents,  with  a  population  of  from  2,000  to  8,000  persons, 
young  ana  old,  since  there  were  318  young  men  trained  to  arms, 
belonging,  by  birth,  to  the  patriarch's  tribe,  and  the  number  of  his 
male  and  female  slaves,  bought,  or  born  to  slave  parents,  seems  to 
have  been  large.®  He  would  doubtless,  therefore,  arrange  his  camp  in 
some  special  form,  for  the  protection  rf  his  flocks,  which  must  have 
been  very  great;   most  prooably  in  a  circle,  as  large  Arab  encamp- 

IHofl.  xiv.  2;  lit.  buUoeltf.  2  Luke  zv.  23.  SAotax.  1&  4  Gen.  xviU.  8;  for  "butter,"  read  as 
in  text.  6  Matt.  xxvl.  23;  Mark  xlv.  20:  John  stii.  26.  6  Oen.  xil.  6,  xHI.  18;  for  "plain,"  read 
"oak."  7Gen.xxi.33.  8  See  ante,  pp.  122, 155.  9  Gen.  xli.  ft;  for  "gotten,"  read  "bouglit;"  xli. 
16;xiii.6,8:xiT.14. 


180 


THE  HOLY   LAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


[CHAP. 


ments  are  pitched  now,  tliat  the  herds  and  flocks  may  be  driven  into 
the  central  space  at  night.  The  Arabs  call  such  camps  "dowars,"  and 
they  are  mentioned  in  the  Old  Testament  under  the  name  of  Hazerim, 
or  Hazeroth,  though  these  words  are  also  applied  to  villages  in  the 
usual  sense.  In  many  cases,  however,  they  must  mean  Arab  tent 
encampments,  as  where  we  read  of  the  "towns"  of  the  sons  of  Ishmael, 
and  their  "castles,"  which  should  really  be,  their  "tent- villages  and 
encampments."^  "The  Avim,"  a  race  of  aboriginal  inhabitants  in 
Palestine,  are  said  to  have  dwelt  in  Ilazerim,  even  to  Gaza;'-*  and  we 
read  of  the, Hazerim  that  "Kedar  [an  Arab  tribe]  doth  inhabit."* 

An  Arab  tent  has  no  furniture,  as  I  have  said,  in  tho  men's  part; 
the  part  sacred  to  the  woLien  is  the  larder,  kitchen,  and  store-house. 
A  copper  pot  or  two,  kettles,  and  frying-pans;  wooden  bowls,  for  milk- 
ing the  flocks  and  herds,  water-jars  and  skin  bottles,  a  pair  or  two  of 
handmill-stones,  and  a  wooden  mortar,  constitute  the  principal  house- 
hold property.  The  skin  bottles,  indeed,  are  a  special  domestic  treas- 
ure, as  they  serve  all  purposes.  Milk,  as  we  have  seen,  is  churned  in 
them,  by  pressing  and  wringing  them,  a  custom  to  which  Proverbs 
alludes  when  it  says,  "Surely  the  churning  [wringing]  of  milk 
bringeth  forth  butter,  and  the  wringing  of  the  nose  bringeth 
forth  blood."*  ,  These  skin  bottles  are  of  all  sizes,  according  as 
they  are  made  from  the  skin  of  kids,  he-gcats,  cattle,  or  camels. 
When  a  goat  or  other  animal  is  killed,  its  feet  and  head  are  cut  off, 
for  Orientals  never  eat  a  beast's  head,  and  the  skin  is  drawn  oft"  without 
opening  the  body.  The  holes  where  the  legs  were  are  duly  sewed  up, 
when  the  skin  has  been  dried  or  rudely  tanned  with  acaoia-bark;  the 
neck  being  left  as  the  mouth.  I  have  .«een  huge  "bottles"  made  of  an 
ox-skin;  two  of  them,  full  of  oil,  a  load  for  a  camel.  The  outside  is 
laboriously  soaked  with  grease,  to  keep  them  soft,  and  to  make  them 
hold  their  liquid  contents.  One  meets  with  them  constantly  in  the 
East.  The  water-seller  carries  a  huge  skin  on  his  back,  the  mouth 
below  one  arm,  ready  for  opening.  Milk,  water,  everything  by  turns, 
is  carried  in  them.  Hung  up  in  the  smoky  tent,  they  get  dry,  and 
black  with  soot;  a  fit  image  of  a  mourner,  with  face  darkened  and 
saddened  by  affliction  or  fasting.  Hence  it  was  natural  for  the  Psalm- 
ist, in  a  time  of  great  sorrow,  to  cry  out  that  he  was  become  "like  a 
bottle  in  the  smoke." ^  These  bottles  have  been  in  use  from  the  earli- 
est times,  for  Hagar  went  away  with  her  son  from  his  father's  tents 
bearing  a  skin  of  water  on  her  shoulder.^  And  the  Gibeonites  over- 
reached the  plain  soldier  Joshua,  and  passed  themselves  off  as  ambas- 
sadors from  some  far-away  nation,  by  appearing  before  him  with  old 
sacks  on  their  asses,  looking  as  if  worn  out  in  carrying  provender  from 
a  distant  country;   with  old  wine-skins,  shrivelled  in  the  sun,  rent, 

1  Gen.  xxT.  16.   2  Deut.  U.  28.   8  Isa.  xlii.  11.   4  FroT.  xxz.  83.   5  Fs.  oxix.  88.   6  Qen.  JUti.  li. 


xm.] 


GAZA  TO  PALUJEH. 


181 


patched,  and  bound  up;  with  dry  and  mouldy  bread  in  their  wallets; 
and  wearing  ragged  clothes  and  old  clouted  sandals.^  When  a  skin 
bottle  gets  old  and  rends,  the  hole  is  covered  with  a  patch,  or  sewed 
together,  or  even  closed  by  inserting  a  flat  piece  of  wood ;  but  care 
must  be  taken,  if  it  is  not  ere  long  to  trouble  the  heart  of  its  owner. 
Ad  old  wine-skin  naturally  becomes  thin  and  tender,  and  is  unfit  to 
8tand  the  violent  fermentation  of  new  wine.  Hence,  as  our  Lord  says, 
"  Men  do  not  put  new  wine  into  old  bottles,  else  the  bottles  break,  and 
the  wine  runneth  out,  and  the  bottles  perish ;  but  they  put  new  wine 
into  new  bottles,  and  both  are  preserved."  ^  But,  at  the  best,  skin 
bottles  are  poor  substitutes  for  those  of  more  solid  materials.  When 
exposed  to  the  sun  on  a  journey,  they  must  be  constantly  greased,  else 
the  water  in  them  will  soon  evaporate;  aiid  their  contents  so  often 
turn  bad  that  one  name  for  them  comes  from  this  fact.^  It  is  a  curious 
illustration  of  the  Oriental  character  of  Bible  imagery  that  these 
strange-looking  things  supply  Job  with  a  metaphor  for  the  clouds, 
when  he  asks,  "  Who  can  empty  out  the  skin  bottles  of  heaven?"* 

As  the  reader  has  already  seen,  the  dress  of  the  Bedouins  is  simple. 
A  long  shirt,  sometimes  white,  generally  blue,  reaches  to  the  ankles, 
and  is  kept  to  the  person  by  a  leathern  strap  or  girdle  round  the  waist. 
As  it  is  partly  open  above  this,  a  great  pocket  is  thus  formed,  down  to 
the  girdle;  and  in  this  pocket  is  stowed  whatever  the  wearer  wishes 
to  carry  easily.  As,  moreover,  the  dress  is  very  loose,  he  can  easily 
pull  it  far  enough  through  the  girdle  to  make  an  overhanging  bag  in 
which  to  carrv  grain  or  anything  else  he  chooses.  It  is  to  this  that 
our  Saviour  refers  when  He  savs,  "Give,  and  it  shall  be  given  unto  you; 
good  measure,  pressed  down,  shaken  together,  running  over,  shall  they 
give  into  your  bosom.  For  with  what  measure  ye  mete,  it  shall  be 
measured  to  you  withal."*  These  words,  by  the  way,  need  the  expla* 
nation  as  to  the  "measure,"  &c.,  which  the  custom  still  prevalent  in  the 
East  affords.  When  grain  is  bought  after  harvest,  for  winter  use,  it  is 
delivered  in  sacks,  and  the  quantity  in  these  is  always  tested  by  a  pro- 
fessional  measurer.  Sitting  down  on  the  ground,  of  course  crosslegged, 
this  functionary  shovels  the  wheat  or  barley  into  the  measure,  which 
is  calle"3  a  "timneh,"  using  his  hands  to  do  so.  When  it  is  quite  full, 
he  shakes  the  "timneh"  smartly,  that  the  grain  may  settle;  then  fills 
it  to  the  brim  again,  and  twists  it  half  round,  with  a  swift  jerk,  as  it 
lies  on  the  ground,  repeating  both  processes  till  it  is  once  more  full  to 
the  top.  This  done,  he  presses  the  contents  with  his  hands,  to  fill  up 
any  still  vacant  space,  till  at  last,  when  it  will  hold  no  more,  he  raises 
a  cone  on  the  top,  stopping  when  it  begins  to  run  over  at  the  sides; 
and  this  only  is  thought  to  be  good  measure.    A  skilful  measurer  can 

1  Josh.  ix.  4.    2  Matt.  ix.  17.    3  "Hameth,"  from  "hamatb,"  to  he  spoiled,  foul,  rancid,  a» 
water,  butter,  «o.  4  Job zxxvi.  i.  37  (Heb.).  6  Luke  vi. 88;  Matt.  TiLflt  lurk,  iv.21. 


182 


THS  HOLY  LAND  AND  THlfi  BIBLS. 


rOBA». 


thus  make  the  "  timneh "  hold  nearly  twelve  pounds  more  than  it 
would  if  simply  filled  at  once,  without  shaking  or  pressing. 

Among  the  Arabs  neither  men  nor  women  wear  drawers,  and  bv  th« 
villagers  among  whom  they  move,  they  are  ridiculed  as  "going  uafeed." 
But  if  we  may  judge  from  the  strictness  of  the  command  that  the 
priests  should  wear  drawers,  this  seems  to  have  been  the  jpractioe 
among  the  Hebrews  also.  No  priests  were  to  enter  the  tabernacle 
without  linen  drawers,  "lest  they  die."^  When  on  a  journey,  or 
engaged  in  shepherding,  the  Arati  generally  wears  an  "abba,"  loosely 
hung  on  his  slioulders,  and  this  is  commonly  his  only  covering  by 
nighi.*  During  the  burning  heat,  moreover,  it  often  serves  to  give 
welcome  shade,  when  spread  out  on  the  top  of  sticks.  A  bright  silk 
or  cotton  kerchief  (the  "keflyeh"),  square,  but  folded  crosswise,  is  used 
to  cover  the  head,  and,  with  a  double  turn  of  soft  camels'-hair  rope 
round  it  to  keep  it  in  its  place,  as  already  described,  is  the  best  possible 
head-gear  for  such  a  cl'mate.  Many  have  skull-caps  below,  but  not  a 
few  use  the  "  kefiyeh  "  only.  The  feet  are  generally  bare,  unless  a  pair 
of  red  leather  slippers  can  be  stolen  from  some  traveller,  or  bought  in 
a  border  town.  These  are  literally  made  of  the  same  "  rams'  skins, 
dved  red,"  that  were  used  as  one  of  the  coverings  of  the  tabernacle.* 
There  is  no  pretence  of  fitting,  and  it  must  be  quite  an  art  to  keep 
them  on,  as  they  have  no  backs,  and  are  generally  much  too  large. 
The  poorer  Arabs  often  make  themselves  sandals  of  camels'  skin — 
mere  soles,  secured  by  thongs  passed  round  the  ankle;  just  such  sub- 
stitutes for  shoes  as  were  worn  oy  the  ancient  Hebrews.*  Very  poor 
Arabs,  however — and  they  are  many — have  only  one  article  of  cloth- 
ing, the  loose  blue-and-white  cotton  shirt,  generally  the  worse  for 
wear. 

Arabs  are,  as  all  know,  divided  into  tribes,  which,  like  the  Scotch 
clans,  take  their  names  from  their  earliest  head.  As  there  are  in 
North  Britain,  Macgregors  and  Macdonalds — that  is,  sons  of  Gregor  or 
of  Donald — there  are,  in  the  desert,  Beni  Shammar,  the  sons  of  Sham- 
mar,  and  many  other  tribes,  similarly  called  after  their  first  ancestor. 
The  aristocratic  families  of  a  tribe  marry  only  in  a  very  limited  circle, 
to  keep  their  wealth  and  influence  in  as  few  hands  as  possible.  But 
the  blue-blooded  husbands  make  up  for  this  by  marrying  several  wives, 
leaving  the  supreme  rank  for  the  one  of  purest  descent,  who  has  the 
honor  of  giving  out  the  provisions  of  the  household,  and  of  preparing 
the  meals  for  her  husband  and  his  guests:  a  prerogative  which  was 
ceded  as  a  matter  of  course  to  Sarah,  when  Abraham  entertained  the 
angels,  and  was  proudly  accepted  by  her.  If  the  husband,  as  is  some- 
times done,  accept  from  a  childless  wife  the  gift  of  one  of  her  female 


1  Bzod.  zzviii.  42,  43.     2  Exod.  xxii.  26,  27. 
xziz.  6;  Josh.  ▼.  15;  Buth  t.  7, 8;  1  Kings  U.  6. 


3  Exod.  ZZVi.  14.     4  Ezod.  111.5;  Deut.  ZXT.  9| 


XIV.J 


FALUJEH  TO  BEIT  JIBRIN   AND  HEBRON. 


188 


slaves,  as  a  wife  of  inferior  rank,  in  the  hope  that  the  latter  may  have 
a  child  whom  her  mistress  may  adopt,  tlie  child,  until  adopted  and 
formally  declared  free,  is,  like  its  mother,  a  shive,  and  the  property  of 
the  wife,  and  can  be  sold  or  driven  out  as  she  pleases,  the  husband, 
according  to  Arab  custom,  being  helpless.  Hagar  and  Ishmael  were 
in  this  way  the  slaves  of  Sarah,  and  she  was  within  her  right  when 
she  demanded  the  expulsion  of  both  from  the  encampment.^ 

The  authority  of  a  father  is  supreme  in  the  desert  household.  The 
life  and  property  of  nil  its  members  are  in  his  hands,  though  he  may 
rarely  exercise  his  stern  prerogatives.  But  by  this  immemorial  family 
law  Abraham  was  free  to  kill  his  son  Isaac,  and,  had  he  actually  done  so, 
would  have  felt  no  sense  of  guilt,  for  Isaac  was  his  to  kill,  if  he  thought 
good.  Tiie  same  frightful  usage  extended,  moreover,  to  neighboring 
races,  for  the  King  of  Moab,  in  the  exercise  of  his  right,  offered  his 
eldest  son  on  tiie  town  wall  as  a  burnt-offering,  to  obtain  the  favor  of 
his  god  ;  and  even  two  Jewish  kings,  Ahaz  and  Manasseh,  caused,  not 
one  child,  but  several,  "to  pass  through  the  fire" — that  is,  burnt  them 
alive,  as  a  sacrifice  to  Moloch.^  But  tliis  was  in  distinct  contravention 
of  the  law  of  Moses.*  It  was  not,  however,  till  almost  the  last  days 
of  the  Jewish  kingdom  that  Josiah  finally  "defiled  Topheth,  in  the 
valley  of  the  children  of  Hinnom,  that  no  man  might  make  his  son  or 
his  daughter  to  pass  through  the  fire  to  Moloch."^ 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


e 

g 

IS 

e 


FALUJEH  TO  BEIT  JIBRIN. — ^THE  ROAD  THENCE  TO  HEBRON. 

The  plain  east  and  north  oi  Falujeh  stretches  unbroken  for  miles. 
Half-way  to  the  hills  we  passed  on  our  right  the  village  of  Arak,  on 
the  top  of  a  hill  678  feet  high,  and  then  reached  Zeita,  about  the  same 
height  above  the  sea,  at  the  entrance  to  the  hill-region.  It  was  only  a 
poor  hamlet,  as  indeed  was  Arak,  but  there  were  no  other  communities 
for  miles  around  ;  the  country,  rich  as  it  was,  lay  without  population. 
Relics  of  better  days  were  to  be  seen,  however,  even  in  such  paltry 
collections  of  hovels.  Herds  of  cattle  and  flocks  of  sheep,  belonging 
to  the  Arabs,  fed  on  the  common.  Finely-built  cisterns  marked  every 
ancient  site  or  modem  hamlet,  often  with  marble  pillars  lying  round, 
their  sides  grooved  with  the  well-ropes  of  hundreds  of  years.  Frag- 
ments of  tesselated  pavements,  Corinthian  capitals,  stone  channels,  con- 
\  ^p,  jjj^t,  JO,  i  ^  qiroo,  j^xvJii.  9  j  w»m,  9.  ?  ^v.  nym,  ^  j  pei^t,  nf^  Ip,  4  9  Kings  wUlr  Vft 


184 


THE   HOLY   LAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


[CHAP. 


necting  wells  with  plastcretl  stone  tanks — built,  who  knows  liow  long 
ago? — spoke  of  a  very  (hft'crent  state  of  things  fnnn  the  present.  in 
one  place,  a  colony  ot  sparrows  had  taken  posession  of  an  ancient  dry 
cistern,  and  chirped  lustily.  Tlie  sides  of  a  wady,  here  and  there, 
showed  pieces  oi  ancient  walls,  built  strongly  across  the  valley,  to 
check  the  rush  of  tlie  winter  torrents,  and  save  tlicm  for  irrigation ; 
but  all  was  now  in  ruins.  Little  girls  at  the  village  rain-pond,  flying 
about  with  dirty  faces  and  streaming  hair;  boys  playing  round,  or 
bathing  in  the  pond;  women  drawing  water  from  it  for  the  household; 
all  alike,  women  and  children,  witli  no  clothing  but  a  longer  or  siiorter 
smock  ;  men  lounging  on  the  village  dust-heap,  their  favorite  place  of 
assembly — were  the  ever-recurring  sights  at  each  widely-separated 
cluster  of  mud  huts. 

Beit  Jibrin  lies  in  a  valley,  approached  by  a  steep  track  over  bare 
sheets  of  rock,  loose  stones,  boulders,  and  every  variety  of  roughness. 
It  had  grown  quite  dark  before  we  reached  the  beginning  of  the  long 
descent,  so  that  there  was  nothing  for  it  but  to  let  my  horse  have  its 
own  way,  over,  round,  or  between  the  stones  and  bare  rocks,  as  it  chose. 
A  false  step  might  have  thrown  me  over  the  side  of  the  hill,  1  knew 
not  into  what  abyss.  Such  a  ride  brings  before  one,  as  perhaps  nothing 
else  could,  the  force  of  the  Bible  promises  that  the  people  oi  God  will 
be  kept  firom  sliding  and  falling ;  and  the  terribleness  of  the  threats 
that  the  workers  of  iniquity  shall  be  set  in  slippery  places,  and  that 
their  feet  shall  slide  in  due  time.^  I  could  realize  what  Jeremiah  said 
of  the  wicked  of  his  days,  that  "their  way  should  be  unto  them  as  slip- 
pery ways  in  the  darkness."  ^  At  last,  however,  we  reached  Beit  Jibrin, 
a  village  of  900  or  1,000  inhabitants.  But  here  a  new  trouble  awaited 
us.  Tne  men  with  the  tents  had  not  arrived.  We  went  hither  and 
thither  in  search  of  them,  but  it  was  of  no  use;  they  had  evidently 
taken  some  other  road,  and  had  stayed  for  the  night  where  darkness 
overtook  them.  Nothing  was  left  for  us  but  to  seek  shelter  in  the 
sheikh's  house,  a  huge,  rough  building,  constructed  of  stones  taken 
from  the  ruins  of  the  ancient  castle  of  the  town,  a  massive  wreck,  near 
which  we  had  alighted  from  our  horses.  The  way  to  the  house  was  as 
dark  as  midnight,  and  full  of  turnings,  past  dust-heaps,  decayed  mud 
hovels,  sunken  courtyards,  and  much  else,  which  covered  the  slope, 
while  fierce  dogs  barked  and  snarled  on  every  side,  just  as  they  "com- 
passed" the  Psalmist  long  ago.*  It  needed  my  own  stick  and  that  of 
my  friend  to  protect  us  from  these  8av}i<>e  brutes.  Quiet  by  day,  they 
make  a  fierce  noise  at  night,  as  in  the  old  Hebrew  villages.* 

At  last  we  reached  the  sheikh's  house,  to  which  a  large  patched  and 
broken  gate,  standing  open,  gave  entrance,  under  a  rough  arch.     An 


1  ProT.  ill.  23;  .Ter.  zzxi.  9;  Deut.  xxxii.  35. 
{^  fn,  JW?}1, 16.   4  f?,  ^^.  6,   ^e  (ftKe,  pp.  11, 12, 


2  Jer.  xxiii.  12,   9ee  »l99  fs,  my. «:  bnOU,  19. 


XIV.J 


FALUJKII    TO    HKIT  .MHRIN    AND    IIEHUON. 


180 


in 
19. 


old  pillar  lay  acroHs  tlio  tliresliold,  requiring  ono  to  innkc  a  high  step 
to  get  over  it — a  matter  all  tiie  more  difficult  as  tliero  was  no  light 
insiue,  while  the  ground  was  uneven  and  tliieic  with  dry  mud  and 
manure.  Walking  on  under  tlie  arch  for  twenty  or  thirty  feet,  aoham- 
ber,  with  a  wall   up  to  the  entrance-arcli,  opened  to  tlie  left— a  large 

Slace,  lighted  by  only  one  small  lamp,  high  up,  at  the  far  end.  The 
oor  was  raised  about  two  feet,  e.xcepting  a  horse-shoe  space,  which 
was  unpaved.  On  tlie  ground  in  the  middle  of  tliis  glimmered  a  wood 
fire,  round  which  sat  fifteen  or  twenty  men  on  rude  benches  and  stones, 
some  smoking,  others  gazing  idly  at  the  embers.  On  the  dais,  at  the 
head  of  this  oblong  pit,  stood  tne  great  »nan,  who,  with  all  tlie  rest, 
rose  to  receive  us,  beckoning  to  me  and  my  friend  to  sit  down  on  a 
small  car[)et  and  some  cushions,  at  his  side.  It  was  a  repetition  of  the 
experience  of  Job  in  his  prosperity.  "  When  I  prepared  my  seat  in 
the  street,  the  aged  arose  and  stood  up."^  When  we  sat  down,  they 
did  the  same.  Opposite  me,  along  the  wall  of  the  da'is,  sat  a  number 
of  men,  and  just  before  the  sheikh  squatted  a  Turkish  soldier,  in  blue 
and  white,  with  a  "kefiyeh"  on  his  head.  We  had  chanced  to  come 
on  a  "town-council"  meeting,  the  subject  being  worthy  of  the  place. 
The  Governor  of  Jerusalem  had  sent  two  soldiers  to  arrest  one  or  more 
offenders  at  Beit  Jibrin,  and  this  gathering  of  the  elders  had  been  sum- 
moned to  arrange  with  these  military  bailiffs  what  they  would  accept 
in  the  way  of  bribe  to  go  back  and  say  they  could  not  find  4;he  men 
they  sought.    My  friend  found  this  out  as  we  sat  listening. 

The  town  has  an  evil  name,  its  population  of  well-grown,  muscular 
men,  who  are  thus  very  different  from  the  peasants  of  other  parts, 
being  bold  and  insolent,  though  industrious,  as  a  whole,  and  compara- 
tively well-to-do.  The  father  of  the  sheikh  at  whose  side  I  sat  had 
been  a  ruffian  of  the  worst  kind,  the  terror  of  the  neighborhood  and  of 
the  townsmen.  Tales  of  monstrous  crimes  committed  by  him  were 
rife.  It  is  said  that  if  he  heard  of  a  man  having  married  a  handsome 
wife,  he  would  invite  the  two  to  his  house,  and  if  he  fanc'^d  the  girl, 
would  stab  the  husband  on  the  spot,  and  make  the  widow  marry  him 
forthwith.  Till  his  death  no  traveller  dared  visit  Beit  Jibrin,  and  the 
traders  from  Hebron  could  not  venture  to  come  near  it  with  their  goods. 
The  Turks,  however,  have  brought  down  the  pride  of  the  house  since 
his  death,  for  the  family  are  now  much  reduced,  as  the  ruinous  condi- 
tion of  parts  of  the  rough  mansion  showed. 

After  a  while  it  was  time  to  rest,  and  we  proceeded  to  our  room. 
Led  out  to  the  roofless,  earth -floored  entrance,  we  mounted  a  terribly 
rickety  stair,  the  carpentry  of  which  may  have  dated,  for  its  rudeness, 
from  any  time  since  the  Flood,  to  a  plaster-floored  chamber,  with  an 
open  hole  in  one  corner,  over  the  yard,  large  enough  to  be  a  peril  to 

>  Jol)xxl3i.7, 


186 


THE  HOLY  LAND   AND  THE  BIBLE. 


[Chap. 


I-  i  t 


any  baby.  This  was  the  discharge-gap  for  refuse  from  this  particular 
rooTi.  On  the  way  up-stairs,  I  could  see  into  the  place  I  had  left, 
where  the  men  were  sitting ;  the  wall  next  the  court  being  built  up 
only  to  the  spring  of  the  arches  on  which  the  second  story  rested.  A 
high  outer  wall  enclosed  the  court,  making  it  part  of  the  mansion,  and 
the  stair  to  my  dormitory  clung,  on  one  side,  to  this;  but,  though  the 
wall  ran  up  tnus,  there  was  no  roof;  the  court  was  open  to  the  sky. 
A  narrow  passage  projecting  from  the  side  of  our  room  faced  the  court: 
a  mere  shaky  bridge  of  rough  wood,  leading  to  the  women's  apart- 
ments, which  looked  out  on  the  high  wall.  Half  the  space  apparently 
occupied  by  the  house,  as  seen  from  the  outside,  was  thus  really  a  yard, 
only  the  front  and  one  side  having  a  roof,  which,  of  course,  was  flat. 
Our  room  was  arched,  or  rather,  four  arches  met  in  the  centre,  over- 
head, as  in  the  "  council  chamber,"  below  us.  Two  pairs  of  old  mill- 
stones lay  in  one  corner;  one  of  them,  the  lower,  in  a  wooden  tray  with 
edges  as  high  as  the  top  of  the  stone,  to  catch  the  flour.  A  thin  car- 
pet, the  size  of  a  large  hearthrug,  and  a  quilted  coverlet,  large  enough 
to  cover  one  person,  were  the  only  furniture.  Ere  long,  however,  the 
colporteur,  who  seemed  quite  at  home^  brought  me  a  pillow  of  red 
cloth,  on  seeing  me  lie  down  quite  worn  out,  and  this  was  supplemented 
a  little  later  by  two  thick  quilts  as  mattresses,  for  my  companion  and 
myself,  and  a  thin  quilt  for  bedclothes.  The  door,  of  sycamore,  may 
have  been  of  any  age,  so  clumsy  and  primitive  was  it.  One  of  its  hinges 
was  gone,  but  it  could  be  closed  after  a  fashion,  with  the  help  of  two 
men  to  lift  it.  To  shut  it  exactly  was,  however,  an  impossible  feat. 
The  only  bolt  was  a  rough  cut  of  a  thick  branch,  which  we  propped 
against  the  door,  but  only  to  see  it  knocked  down,  soon  afterwards,  by 
some  intruder.  There  were  two  windows,  without  glass,  but  with  lat- 
tices, the  openings  between  the  laths  being  of  the  size  of  small  panes. 
The  windows  were  closed  by  shutters  of  half-inch  wood,  one  of  them 
kept  in  its  place  by  a  great  piece  of  timber  laid  against  it.  As  to  their 
fitting  the  window-spaces,  no  such  idea  had  troubled  the  genius  who 
.:iade  them.  You  could  see  through  the  gaping  chinks  in  pretty  nearly 
every  direction.  A  small  recess  in  the  wall  was  lighted  by  a  little 
tin  paraffin  lamp,  with  no  glass:  a  dismal  affair,  giving  a  light  like  that 
of  a  tallow  candle,  and  spreading  a  rich  perfume  round. 

To  get  any  supper  was  the  difficulty.  Nothing  whatever  was  offered 
by  our  host.  After  a  time  I  managed  to  secure  a  little  hot  Arater,  and 
infused  some  compressed  tea,  in  a  small  tin.  We  had  sugar,  but  no 
milk;  bread,  made  at  Gaza,  in  flat  "bannocks;"  some  hard-boiled  eggs, 
and,  I  believe,  the  wreck  of  a  cold  chicken.  There  was  no  table,  no 
chair,  no  anything;  so  we  sat  on  the  floor  and  did  our  best.  Then 
came  the  almost  hopeless  attempt  to  sleep.  One  of  the  many  wolf- 
like, long-muzzled,  yellow  town  dogs,  prowling  through  the  open  gate- 


I 


1 


S 


■■-v 


at- 


lat 

sred 
and 
no 

no 
hen 
olf- 
ate- 


s>yi-^  — -        — 


View  o£  hei.1011  from  "Abraham'-  Oak."    (See  page  3C4.) 


XIV.J 


FALUJEH  TO  BEIT  JIBRIN   AND  HEBRON. 


187 


way,  had  wandered  up  to  us,  and  smelling  the  food,  darted  into  the 
room,  knocking  down  our  ingenious  prop  behind  the  gaping  door. 
The  colporteur,  however,  was  a  match  for  him.  My  long-legged  friend 
had  composed  himself  to  sleep  with  his  back  against  the  wall,  and  his 
lower  members  stretchec  out  far  across  the  floor,  but  he  gathered  them 
up  in  a  moment,  and,  with  a  volley  of  fierce  Arabic,  drove  the  quad- 
ruped at  a  gallop  down  the  rickety  outside  stair ;  then  settled  down  at 
the  same  right  angle  as  before,  for  his  night's  enjoyment.  As  to 
myself,  sleep  danced  round  my  pillow,  but  would  not  do  me  the  kind- 
ness of  mesmerizing  my  tired  brain.  Indeed,  it  would  Lave  been  hard 
to  get  into  oblivion,  in  any  case,  under  the  fierce-attacks  of  regiments, 
brigades,  and  army  corps  of  fleas  which  presently  marched  or  leaped 
over  me,  like  the  myriad  Lilliputians  over  Gulliver.  What  a  nig-ht! 
I  never  spent  such  another,  I  think,  except  once,  twenty-five  years 
ago,  when  I  bivouacked  on  the  shore  of  Lake  Huron,  on  a  missionary 
visit  to  the  Indians  with  my  excellent  friend,  now  Vicar  of  Ogbourne 
St.  George's,  in  Wiltshire.  The  sand-flies  and  mosquitoes  there  were 
even  worse  than  the  hosts  of  fleas  at  Beit  Jibrin,  for  they  bit  Mr. 
Pyne's  nose  till  it  was  a  great  deal  thicker  at  the  bridge  than  at  the 
nostrils ;  inverted  it,  in  fact,  as  to  shape.  Morning,  however,  broke  at 
last ;  we  liad  no  clothes  to  put  on,  for  we  had  not  undressed ;  the 
women  were  already  astir,  carrying  brushwood  to  their  room,  for  firing; 
children  came  and  looked  in  on  us;  breakfast  was  easily  made  on  the 
scraps  of  last  night's  feast,  and  we  gladly  sought  the  open  air,  to  take 
a  survey  of  the  town  and  neighboriiood.  Arab  hospitality  had  done 
very  little  in  our  case. 

Beit  Jibrin  is  thought  by  Dr.  Tristram  to  be  the  successor  of  ancient 
Gath;  by  others,  to  be  that  of  the  old  city  of  Eleutheropolis  or 
Bethogabra,  "  the  House  of  Gabriel."  The  ancient  name,  Beit  Jibrin 
— "the  House  of  Giants" — now  restored  to  it,  seems  to  point  to  the 
survivors  of  the  race  to  which  Goliath  belonged,  a  being  once  settled 
here,  and  we  know  that  they  lived  in  Gath.  Conder,  however,  as  we 
have  seen,  believet  Tell  es  Safieh  to  have  been  the  ancient  Philistine 
city,  but  which  opinion  is  right  must,  I  fear,  be  left  to  others  for  future 
discussion.  At  the  foot  of  the  rising  ground  on  which  the  sheikh's 
mansion  stood  are  the  remains  of  a  great  fortres.s,  with  tremendous 
walls,  still  cased,  in  parts,'with  squared  stones,  and,  in  places,  thirty- 
two  lengths  of  my  foot  thick.  There  is  nothing  in  Palestine  so  exten- 
sive, and  massive,  except  the  substructions  of  the  ancient  Temple  at 
Jerusalem,  or  the  Mosque  at  Hebron.  A  ruined  wall  of  large  squared 
stones,  laid  on  each  other  without  mortar,  encloses  the  fortress  at  a 
good  distance ;  a  row  of  ancient  massive  vaults,  with  fine  round  arches, 
running  along,  inside,  on  the  west  and  north-west,  many  of  them 
ljviri^4  ip  rubbishy  but  SQme  still  serving  as  houses.    The  space  thus 


188 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


[Ohap. 


shut  in,  to  form  the  anoient  oastle-yard,  is  about  600  feet  square ;  the 
fortress  itself  being  a  square  195  feet,  and  showing  the  magnificent 
arohitecture  of  the  Crusaders.  Beyond  the  enclosure,  remains  of  the 
town  wall,  or  fortifications,  extend,  in  all,  to  ab'>ut  2,000  feet,  with  a 
ditch  in  front :  a  defence  strong  enough,  in  all  its  parts,  one  would 
have  thought,  to  keep  out  the  Saracens  for  eyer,  as  indeed  it  would  have 
done  had  the  Crusaders  been  united  among  themselves. 

Outside  the  walls  are  three  wells:  two  with  water,  one  dry:  the 
masonry  apparently  crusading,  though  both  they  and  the  fortress  have 
been  patched  up  in  later  times,  the  last  repairs  seeming  to  have  been 
made,  if  we  may  judge  from  an  inscription,  about  300  years  ago.  Since 
then  everything  has  fallen  to  ruin,  the  very  enclosure  of  the  castle, 
where  the  rubbish  allows,  being  used  for  mud  hovels,  or  for  patches  of 
tobacco  or  vegetables.  One  of  the  wells,  of  great  size  and  probably 
100  feet  deep,  full  to  overflowing  after  rain,  is  of  itself  enough  to  show 
what  the  place  might  be  made  under  a  good  government.  Ornaments 
on  the  marble  capitals  found  here  and  there  show  that  Beit  Jibrin  has 
had  a  long,  eventful  history,  one  of  them  exhibiting  such  purely  Jewish 
devices  as  the  seven-brancned  candlestick:  a  relic,  probably,  of  Macca- 
bsean  times. 

The  fortifications  of  Beit  Jibrin  are  not,  however,  so  remarkable  as 
the  artificial  caverns  found  in  its  neighborhood.  There  are  fourteen  in 
all,  rudely  circular,  and  connected  together;  their  diameter  from  twenty 
to  sixty  feet,  and  their  height  from  twenty  to  thirty.  Crosses  are  cut 
on  the  walls  of  all  the  caves,  and  early  Arabic  inscriptions,  of  which 
one  is  the  name  of  Saladiu.  In  some  of  the  caverns  there  are 
also  many  niches,  for  lamps;  in  others  rows,  of  larger  niches 
probably  for  urns  containing  the  ashes  of  the  dead  after  crema- 
tion. There  are,  besides,  spaces  cut  for  bodies,  marking  the 
change  from  burning  to  burial.  Altogether,  the  caverns  are  very 
remarkable,  but  it  is  hard  to  form  any  safe  judgment  either  as  to  their 
origin  or  tlie  purpose  for  which  they  were  first  used.  They  are  about 
a  mile  south  of  the  town,  in  a  hill  which  is  completely  honeycombed 
with  them.  You  enter  by  a  perpendicular  shaft  in  the  hill-side,  into 
which  you  have  to  creep  after  your  guide,  letting  yourself  down  as  he 
directs.  Candles  for  light,  and  a  cord  to  show  the  way  back  are  neces- 
sary. Pressing  through  the  briars  and  loose  pieces  of  stone  at  the 
mouth,  you  reach  the  bottom  after  a  time,  and  then  lighting  your  can- 
dles, creep  on  all  fours  along  a  winding  passage,  to  the  bottom  of  a  cir- 
cular dome-shaped  cavern,  about  sixty  feet  high,  and  solid  at  the  top. 
A  flight  of  stone  steps  winding  round  the  sides  leads,  about  half-way 
up,  by  a  twisting  tunnel,  through  which  it  is  again  necessary  to  creep, 
to  another  cavern;  but  there  are  smaller  chambers  on  the  way,  and 
passages  branch  gfS  in  aU  4irection§  in  a  perfect  mfa§,    Tp  vi^it  9t\\ 


XlV.l 


fJjAjJtn  to  ^Ell!  JtBttiK  AI^D  dEBliOI^. 


idd 


these  strange  caves  would  be  a  difficult,  and  indeed  almost  impossible, 
task;  but  one  or  two  are  a  fair  sample  of  all. 

In  their  present  size  and  condition  tiiey  are  of  comparatively  late 
origin;  but  the  fact  that  many  Jewish  tombs  have  been  more  or  less 
destroyed  in  enlarging  them  shows  that  they  must,  in  their  earlier  state, 
be  at  least  as  old  as  the  time  when  the  Hebrews  ruled  over  this  dis- 
trict, in  the  MaccabsBan  age,  or  earlier.  The  entrances  are  sometimes 
at  the  top.  sometimes  at  the  bottom;  and  there  is  no  provision  for 
lighting.  Nor  are  they  in  any  measure  on  the  same  level :  bottoms 
and  tops  alike  go  up  and  dowr  without  plan  or  regularity.  That  they 
were  intended  for  tombs  is  impossible:  but  they  may  have  been  a  vast 
svstem  of  underground  reservoirs  of  water  to  provide  against  the  con- 
tingJQncies  of  a  siege,  all  the  caverns  being,  as  I  have  said,  connected. 
That  there  are  no  openings  at  the  top  of  most  of  them  seems,  however, 
to  militate  against  such  a  theory  in  these  particular  excavations,  though 
there  are  others  to  which  it  may  apply.  Were  they  originally  caves 
of  the  Horites,  who  lived  in  such  excavations  in  the  rocks  as  these 
must  originally  have  been ;  or  are  they  a  counterpart  of  the  subter- 
ranean cities  still  to  be  found  in  some  regions  east  of  the  Jordan  ?  * 
Cofisul-General  Wetzstein  and  Herr  Schumacher  are,  so  tar  as  I  know, 
the  only  persons  who  have  fully  explored  one  of  these  subterranean 
cities  and  as  the  narrative  of  the  former  is  much  more  vividly  written 
than  that  of  his  fellow-countryman,  I  quote  it : 

"I  visited  old  Edrei — the  subterranean  labyrinthine  residence  of 
King  Og — on  the  east  side  of  the  Zamle  hills.  Two  sons  of  the  shiekh 
of  the  village — one  fourteen,  the  other  sixteen  years  of  age — accom- 
panied me.  We  took  with  us  a  box  of  matches  and  two  candles. 
After  we  had  gone  down  the  slope  for  some  time,  we  came  to  a  dozen 
rooms  which,  at  present,  are  used  as  goat-stalls  and  store-rooms  for 
straw.  The  passage  became  gradually  smaller,  until  at  last  we  were 
compelled  to  lie  down  flat,  and  creep  along.  This  extremely  difficult 
and  uncomfortable  process  lasted  for  about  eight  minutes,  when  we 
were  obliged  to  jump  down  a  steep  wall,  several  feet  in  height.  Here 
I  noticed  that  the  younger  of  my  two  attendants  had  remained 
behind,  being  afraid  to  follow  us;  but  probably  it  was  more  from 
fear  of  the  unknown  European  than  of  the  dark  and  winding  passages 
before  us. 

"We  now  found  ourselves  in  a  broad  street,  which  had  dwellings  on 
both  sides  of  it,  whose  height  and  width  left  nothing  to  be  desired. 
The  temperature  was  mild,  the  air  free  from  unpleasant  odors,  and  I 
felt  not  the  smallest  difficulty  in  breathing.  Furtner  along  there  were 
several  cross-streets,  and  mv  guide  called  my  attention  to  a  hole  in  the 
ceiling  for  air,  like  three  others  which  I  afterwards  saw,  (now)  closed  up 

1  Wetzstein,  Meueberichi  iiber  Haurdn,  ii.  47, 48 ;  Schumacher,  Aerom  Me  Jordan,  p.  186. 


.u^i.  yjgjissm':  '.rtaaa^J.-*'!.,'.  - . 


190 


THE  UOLY  LAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


[Chap. 


from  above.  Soon  after,  we  came  to  a  market-place;  where,  for  a 
long  distance,  on  both  sides  of  a  pretty  broad  street  there  were 
numerous  shops  in  the  walls,  exactly  m  the  style  of  the  shops  that  are 
seen  in  Syrian  cities.  After  a  while  we  turned  into  a  side  street, 
where  a  great  hall,  whose  roof  was  supported  by  four  pillrrs  attracted 
my  attention.  The  roof,  or  ceiling,  was  formed  of  a  single  slab  of  jas- 
per, perfectly  smooth,  and  of  immense  size,  in  which  I  could  not  per- 
ceive the  slightest  crack.  The  rooms,  for  the  most  part,  had  no 
supports;  the  doors  were  often  made  of  a  single  square  stone; 
and  here  and  there  I  also  noticed  fallen  columns.  After  we  had  passed 
several  cross-alleys  or  streets,  and  before  we  had  reached  the  middle 
of  this  subterranean  city  my  attendant's  light  went  out.  As  he  was 
lighting  again  by  mine,  it  occurred  to  me  that  possibly  both  our  lights 
might  be  put  out,  and  I  asked  the  boy  if  he  had  any  matches.  'No,' 
he  replied,  '  my  brother  has  them.'  'Could  you  find  your  way  back  if 
the  lights  were  put  out?'  'Impossible,'  he  replied.  For  a  moment  I 
began  to  be  alarmed  at  this  underworld,  and  urged  an  immediate 
return.  Without  much  difficulty  we  got  back  to  the  market-place, 
and  from  there  the  youngster  knew  the  way  well  enough.  Thus,  after 
a  sojourn  of  more  than  an  hour  and  a  half  in  this  labyrinth,  I  greeted 
the  light  of  day." 

No  wonder  that  it  needed  swarms  of  hornets  to  drive  the  population 
out  of  such  a  stronghold  as  this,  and  bring  them  within  reach  of  the 
swords  of  the  Hebrews.^ 

The  caverns  of  Beit  Jibrin  are  certainly  very  inferior  to  such  a  city, 
but  they  may  represent  a  diflferent  stage  of  civilization.  A  great  pro- 
portion of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Haurfin  still  live  in  caves,  and  I  have 
already  described  a  cave- village  near  Beersheba. 

Half-way  between  the  caverns  and  the  town  is  an  interesting  ruin, 
the  Church  of  St.  Anne,  one  of  the  finest  Byzantine  churches  in  Pales- 
tine. The  path  to  it  runs  south,  across  the  fine  valley  from  which 
rises  the  low  hill  on  which  Beit  Jibrin  stands.  Many  olive-trees  in 
avenues  shade  the  way  towards  the  gentle  acclivity,  shutting  in  the 
town  on  the  south ;  the  town,  by  the  way,  is  quite  surrounded  with 
hills  of  sufficient  elevation  to  conceal  it  from  view  till  their  crest  is 
reached.  On  the  road  I  learned  that  here  also,  as  in  other  parts  of 
Southern  Judaea,  and  in  most  districts  of  the  Turkish  Empire,  men 
frequently  multilate  themselves,  that  they  may  be  unfit  for  military 
service,  which  they  profoundly  dread,  from  its  carrying  them  so  far 
from  home.  One  man  was  pointed  out  to  me  who  had  hacked  off  his 
thumb  to  escape  conscription,  inflicting  on  himself  voluntarily  the 
injury  to  which,  in  Joshua's  time,  seventy  local  chiefs  had  been  sub- 
jected iy  a  ferocious  Canaanite  kinglet,  to  make  them  incapable  of 

1  Ex.  xxiii.28;  Deut.  vii.  20;  Josh.  xxiv.  12. 


t 


nail 
the 
at 
thei 
eart 
may 
time 
1  Ju 


XIV.] 


FALUJfiH  TO  BfilT  JIBRIN   AND  UEBRON. 


191 


holding  the  sword  or  the  speftr,  and  thus  quite  powerless  for  war.*  To 
strengthen  the  empire,  it  is  a  custom  with  the  Sultan  to  send  recruits 
to  distant  countries;  Arabs,  ()erlt(ips,  being  sent  to  guard  Constanti- 
nople, while  Turks,  or  Kurds,  garrison  Palestine.  The  soldiers  I  saw 
tbe  night  before  proved  to  be  Kurtls.  The  blinding  of  an  eye  is  more 
frequent  than  the  cutting  off  ot  a  thumb,  some  burning  liquid  being 
used  for  the  purpose;  but  the  sight  of  both  eyes  is  often  lost  in  the 
process. 

The  Church  of  St.  Anne  stands  half-way  up  the  slope,  and  at  once 
carries  the  thoughts  back  to  the  old  Byzantine  times,  though  it  has 
been  restored  by  the  Frank  Crusaders  in  the  Gothic  style,  perhaps 
when  far  gone  in  decay.  The  east  end  is  still  perfect,  and  there  are 
a  few  courses  above  the  foundation  along  the  whole  nave,  which 
extended  to  a  length  of  124  feet,  with  a  width  of  thirty-two  feet,  while 
the  breadth  of  the  church,  as  shown  by  remains  of  the  walls,  was  154 
feet;  so  that  the  building  was,  originally,  not  far  from  square.  Two 
tiers  of  windows,  five  feet  broad,  ran  along  the  sides,  and  at  the  east 
end  was  a  semi-circular  projection,  or  apse,  in  whicli  were  three  win- 
dows. The  height  of  the  apse  had  originally  been  forty-three  feet,  but 
a  piece  of  the  roof  of  the  nave  is  ten  feet  lower,  so  that  a  dome  or  other 
construction  must  have  been  used  to  join  the  two.  It  is  touching  to 
see  such  a  ruin  in  a  land  now  given  up  to  Mahommedanism.  The  con- 
quests of  the  Cross  have  shrunk  as  well  as  expanded.  Countries  once 
Christian  are  so  no  longer.  The  crescent  has  taken  the  place  of  the 
Cross  all  over  the  East,  and  along  the  southern  shores  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean. Let  the  West  carry  back  the  standard  of  our  faith  to  these 
once  Christian  lands  I 

Between  the  Church  of  St.  Anne  and  Beit  Jibrin  there  are  many 
more  caverns,  but,  unlike  the  others,  all  are  more  or  less  open  at  tlie 
top.  In  some  cases,  a  circular  hole  still  exists,  about  six  feet  in  diam- 
eter, such  as  one  might  expect  i)i  cisterns;  and  of  others  portions  of 
the  roofs  have  fallen  in.  Many  Christian  symbols  cut  out  of  the  soft 
rock  on  the  sides  of  these  strange  vaults  show  that  the  region  was  once 
zealous  for  the  Cross,  and  carry  the  date  of  the  caverns  back  to  an  age 
at  least  earlier  than  the  invasion  of  the  Saracens.  But  how  much  ear- 
her,  who  can  tell?  The  sides  have  been  dresued  with  picks  diago- 
nally, and  great  pillars  of  rock  have,  in  some  cases,  been  left  to  support 
the  roof.  It  is  touching  to  find  that  in  some  cases  there  are  recesses 
at  the  east  side,  as  if  these  subterranean  halls,  so  rude  and  strange  in 
their  lofty  circular  hollow,  had  been  used  as  chapels — "caves  of  the 
earth,"  where  the  friends  of  the  Saviour  often  met  together.  They 
may,  however,  as  Dr.  Thomson  suggests,  have  been  used  in  earlier 
times  as  reservoirs  for  water  in  ease  of  a  siege,  so  that  the  city,  which 

1  JttdK.i.7. 


192 


TfiE  aOLV  LAND  AKD  THE  BIBLE. 


tOHAV. 


be  thinks  was  identical  with  Gath,  should  never  be  taken  because  of  a 
failure  of  the  supply.  This  theory  is  strengthened  by  the  fact  tliat  at 
Zikrin,  six  miles  north- west  of  Beit  Jibrin,  there  are  vast  excavations 
beneatii  a  platform  of  hard  rock  which  is  pierced  by  forty  openings 
into  the  reservoirs  below,  whence  water  is  even  now  drawn  daily  by 
the  villagers.  The  excavations  at  Zikrin  closely  resemble  those  of 
Beit  Jibrin,  both  in  shape  and  size,  and  are  all  connected  by  passages, 
so  that  the  water  stands  at  the  same  level  in  each.^ 

Carpet-weaving  is  followed  extensively  in  Beit  Jibrin.  On  the  flat 
tops  of  the  mud  houses,  women  engaged  in  this  industry  were  busy  at 
the  most  primitive  looms,  with  their  fingers  for  shuttles,  producing 
work  at  once  firm  and  thick  in  its  substance.  Wilton  and  Axminster 
would  be  horrified  if  set  to  rival  them  and  restricted  to  the  use  of  such 
appliances;  but  the  East  does  wonders  under  amazing  difficulties. 
Outside  the  town,  long  strips  of  ground  beside  the  paths  were  used  by 
the  yarn-makers  and  dyers  in  preparing  the  threads  before  handing 
them  to  the  dusky  weavers.  There  were  a  good  many  flocks  and 
herds,  and  the  shepherds  were  all  armed,  both  with  guns  and  axes,  to 
protect  their  charge  from  the  wolves,  which  plunder  the  folds  in  the 
nills,  as  the  Bedouins  do  those  in  the  plains.  One  shepherd-boy  was 
lamenting,  with  tears,  that  a  wolf  from  one  of  the  caves  had  just  car- 
ried off  a  kid. 

The  sheikh,  as  I  have  remarked,  has  been  so  thoroughly  humbled 
by  the  Turk's  since  his  hateful  father's  death  that  he  is  now  quite  poor. 
His  hereditary  authority,  however,  retains  for  him  great  formal  respecf 
from  those  who  approach  him,  which  they  do  kneeling  on  one  knee, 
and  kissing  his  hand.  His  equals  do  not  seem  to  pay  this  form  of 
homage,  but  only  the  humbler  people.  So,  the  Son  of  Sirach  tells  us 
"till  he  hath  received,  the  borrower  will  kiss  a  man's  hand."^  Such 
formal  kissing  is  common  in  the  East.  They  kiss  the  beard,  the  mouth, 
and  even  the  clothes.  Niebuhr,  on  one  occasion,  was  allowed,  as  a 
great  honor,  to  kiss  both  the  back  and  the  palm  of  an  Arab  Ymr&m, 
and  also  the  hem  of  his  clothing ;  and  kings,  in  Bible  times,  required 
conquered  chiefs  or  princes  to  kiss  their  feet,  or,  as  the  prophet 
expresses  it,  to  "lick  up  the  dust  from  them."*  It  was,  therefore, 
unconsciously,  a  nobly  symbolical  acknowledgment  of  lowly  reverence 
to  our  Lord,  as  her  King,  when  the  poor  sinful  but  penitent  woman 
came  behind  Him  and  kissed  His  feet,  after  having  washed  off  the  dust 
with  her  tears.*  The  sheikh's  castle  or  mansion  has  apparently 
belonged  for  centuries  to  the  same  family,  which  is  one  of  the  highest 
in  the  country,  its  chief  holding  the  hereditary  dignity  of  sheikh  over 
sixteen  villages  of  this  region,  in  return  for  which  he  is  required,  if 
necessary,  to  supply  the  Government  with  2,000  soldiers  ready  for  war. 
The  brother  of  our  host  ruled  at  Tell  es  Safieh. 

1  land  and  Soot,  p.  600.   2EecIa8.zxlx.5.  8l8a.xliz.23;8olnFi.lzzlLtl  4LulnTlLtfb 


xiv.l 


FALUJEtt  Ho  ttVr  JlBtim  X^D  J{EBBON. 


m 


Oman 
dust 

ently 

ghest 
over 

ed,  if 
war. 


The  view  from  the  hill,  south-west  of  the  Cliurch  of  St.  Anne,  was 
striking.  Its  top  is  a  flat  plain,  about  HOO  feet  across ;  but  as  it  is 
nearly  1,100  feet  above- the  sea,  the  great  Philistine  plain  lay  spread 
out  at  our  feet  on  the  west,  a  blue  strip  of  tlie  Great  Sea  shutting  in 
the  horizon.  To  the  east  rose  the  mountains  of  Hebron.  South-west 
and  east  the  hills  were  strewn  with  ruins  of  many  places,  of  which  the 
very  names  have  long  ago  perished.  Tombs  and  cisterns  in  the  white 
chalk  were  numerous.  Less  than  half  a  mile  on  the  south-west  a 
ruined  heap,  on  the  top  of  gently-sloping  hills,  marks  the  sight  of 
Mareshah,  where  King  Asa  defeat^'!  Zera,  the  Ethiopian  King,  who 
brought  against  him  an  army  of  a  hundred  thousand  men  and  three 
hundred  chariots.^ 

As  the  asses  with  our  tents  had  not  even  now  come,  we  were  forced 
to  start  for  Hebron  without  them .  The  road  lay  through  a  beautiful 
plain,  girt  in  by  gentle  hills,  here  and  there  stony,  elsewhere  green 
with  olives  or  grain,  or  showing  yellow  ploughed  land.  Carved  stones 
lay  around,  among  them  a  Corinthian  capital,  half  buried  in  the  grass. 
Pits  were  open  in  several  places,  for  digging  out  dressed  stones  of 
ancient  buildings.  A  marble  pillar  was  built  into  a  water-trough ; 
and  a  mound  of  earth  showed,  by  a  slip  of  the  soil  at  one  part,  that  it 
was  all  masonry  underneath.  There  must  have  been  a  great  popula- 
tion here  in  Jewish  times,  if  only  from  the  vast  number  of  Hebrew 
tombs  in  the  plain  and  in  the  hills.  Tiie  two  soldiers  who  had  caused 
such  a  commotion  in  the  sheikh's  dovecot  the  night  before,  were 
returning  to  Hebron,  and  formed  our  improvised  escort.  One — the 
Kurd — had  on  a  blue  military  jacket,  trimmed  with  orange  and  blue 
braid;  the  other  wore  an  old  grey  coat,  pink-and-blue  striped  cotton 
tunic,  big  boots,  and  sword.  The  first  had  on  his  head  a  fez,  the  sec- 
ond a  flowing  "kefiyeh."  As  to  the  men  they  were  sent  to  bring  back, 
their  answer  to  the  governor  was  ready:  "They  won't  come,  and  we 
can't  fetch  them;"  but  their  pockets  told  the  true  reason. 

The  valley  was  lovely  as  we  rode  on.  Fences  of  squared  stones 
from  the  ruins  divided  the  fields  of  different  owners.  Rows  of  beauti- 
ful olive-trees,  patches  of  green  barley,  lentils,  beans,  and  wheat,  diver- 
sified the  plain,  through  which  a  small  dry  water-course,  with  green 
slopes,  wound  its  way.  The  white  limestone  cropped  out  at  places  on 
the  hill-sides,  along  which  were  numerous  marks  of  ancient  terrace 
cultivation.  "Smoke,  at  more  than  one  point,  showed  where  charcoal- 
burners  were  at  work,  using  the  stunted  bushes  and  dwarf-trees  of 
some  of  the  hills  as  material.  A  poor  fellah  passed,  with  his  wife  and 
children  and  all  his  household  goods — some  pots  and  miserable  "traps" 
—on  a  camel,  which  he  led.  They  w^ere  removing  from  one  part  to 
another. 
1  2Chron.  xiv.  0. 

X3 


li 


194 


.  THE   HOLY   LAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


(Chav. 


The  road  soon  began  to  cliange  as  we  got  higher,  for  the  whole  way 
to  Jlebron  is  an  ascent.  The  valley  became  often  very  stony  and  bar- 
ren, till  one  wondered,  v  hen  a  plough  was  seen  slowly  moving  through 
such  fields  of  ballast,  whether  the  land  could  be  worth  the  labor  of 
cultivation.  As  we  aijproached  the  famous  hill  of  Judsea  the  slopes 
were  covered  with  olives,  grey  stone  gleaming  out  amidst  them. 
Soon,  however — not  more,  indeed,  than  two  hours  after  the  time  we 
started,  8  a.  m. — the  route  became  desolate  in  the  extreme.  One 
ravine  succeeded  another,  and  the  path  was  a  chaos  of  stones,  over 
which  it  seemed  next  to  impossible  for  horses  to  travel.  But  by  dint 
of  winding  about,  stepping  nigh,  and  almost  climbing,  they  did  con- 
trive to  make  way,  which  they  certainly  could  not  have  done  had  they 
not  been  born  in  the  land.  Only  here  and  there  was  the  semblance  of 
a  track  to  be  discerned.  The  hills  on  each  side  of  the  valley  we  were 
ascending  were  grey  as  a  chalk  clift',  but  set  off*  with  thickets  of  myr- 
tle, low  thorny  bushes,  and  various  shrubs.  Stone  dams  ran  across 
the  wady  and  formed  terraces,  by  which  the  soil  brought  down  by  the 
rains  was  Tovented  from  being  swept  away,  and  spread  out  into  snuill 
fields  or  patches.  Dam  after  dam  thus  paved  successive  terraces  with 
fertile  earth,  which  was  green  with  crops.  The  wady  had  now  shrunk 
to  very  narrow  limits,  being  only  a  stone's-throw  across;  the  hills, 
grey  and  barren  except  for  the  myrtles  and  bushes,  slanted  up  steeply, 
on  either  side,  to  their  rounded  tops.  About  noon  we  came,  at  lost, 
to  water,  at  a  spot  which  seemed  the  picture  of  desolation,  but  for  the 
artificial  shelves  of  verdure  secured  by  dams,  which  now  reappeared, 
after  a  long  interval  of  hideous  desolation.  We  were  vMI  ttie  old 
Koman  road ;  but  it  had  not  been  repaired  for  1,500  years.  I  should 
think,  indeed,  that  it  must  have  been  only  a  few  feet  broad  at  first,  and 
certainly  one  would  not  now  dream  that  it  had  ever  been  a  road,  were 
it  not  for  odd  traces  at  wide  intervals. 

The  soldiers  had  kept  ahead  of  us  up  this  wild  defile,  which,  by  the 
way,  has  in  all  ages  been  the  only  high  road,  awful  as  it  is,  between 
Hebron,  Beit  Jibrin,  and  Gaza.  Having  at  last  reached  a  spot  where 
water  burst  out  of  the  rooUs  on  the  left,  they  stopped,  and  we  gladly 
did  the  same.  A  peasant  had  raised  a  miserable  house  for  himself  at 
the  side  of  the  wady,  above  the  reach  of  the  torrent  that  sweeps  down- 
ward after  rain,  and  had  fenced  in  a  few  yards  with  a  stone  wall,  and 
planted  some  fig-trees,  which  were  in  full  leaf.  The  path  was  on  the 
other  side  of  the  drv  water-courae,  but  it  needed  good  management  to 
get  across  the  few  yards  of  rocky  shelves  and  boulders  to  the  spring. 
Once  safely  over,  the  horses  were  allowed  to  graze  as  they  could  on 
patches  of  grass  in  the  wady  where  the  water  of  the  spring  reached, 
and  in  the  shadow  of  the  rocks^  we  sought  what  shelter  was  to  be  had 

1  Isa.  xxxii.  2. 


XIV.J 


FALUJEH  TO  BEIT  JIBRIN  AKD  BBBltOK. 


196 


the 


from  the  burning  sun.  One  of  the  soldiers,  meanwhile,  betook  himself 
to  the  very  opposite  occupation  of  washing  his  face  and  his  "  abba," 
of  course  without  soap.  We  sought  what  refreshment  was  procurable 
from  a  cup  of  cold  tea,  a  hard  egg,  some  dry  bread,  and  a  little  water- 
cress, gathered  below  the  spring,  which  leaped  out  of  the  bare  hill-side 
like  a  full  stream  from  a  large  hose.  The  road  from  Jerusalem  strikes 
into  this  wady  at  its  worst  part,  and  if  this  be  the  route  taken  by  St. 
Philip  the  Evangelist  when  he  fell  in  with  the  eunuch,  1  don't  wonder 
at  the  statement  that  it  was  "desert."^ 

When  fairly  rested,  we  set  out  once  more,  the  road  continuing  much 
the  same,  but  the  weariness  of  it  relieved  by  wild  songs  from  the  sol- 
diers— the  subjects  known  only  to  themselves.  I  was  greatly  refreshed 
by  a  cup  of  cold  water  brought  me  by  one  of  them  before  starting;  its 
coolness  at  such  a  time  forcibly  reminding  me  of  the  value  set  by  the 
Saviour  on  such  a  gift  bestowed  on  His  little  ones  in  these  very  hills 
of  Palestine,  so  hot  and  dry  in  their  chalky  greyness.^  Af  some 
places  there  was  a  little  fertility,  and  we  even  found  some  peasants 
ploughing  on  an  artificial  terrace  in  the  wady,  while  other  spots  were 
ploughed  at  its  sides  where,  for  a  time,  it  grew  wider.  The  ploughers 
nad  left  their  overcoats  at  home,  as  was  noticed  of  those  in  His  day  by 
our  Lord,^  and  they  followed  their  ploughs  with  eager  joy,  preparing 
for  summer  crops.  Two  oxen  dragged  one  plough  ;  another  was  pulled 
along  by  an  ox  and  an  ass,  in  vivid  contravention  of  the  old  Hebrew 
law.*  Sometimes  even  an  ass  and  a  camel  are  yoked  together  to  this 
task — a  union  sufficiently  comical.  Black  goats,  on  the  steep  sides  of 
the  ravine,  were  feeding  on  the  gnarled  dwarf-oak  scrub,  a  few  feet 
high,  the  dwarf-pistachio  and  arbutus,  with  tufts  of  aromatic  herbs, 
some  especially  fragrant  beds  of  thyme,  myrtle-bushes,  and  the  like, 
which  were  springing  out  of  the  countless  fissures  of  the  rocks.  Such 
a  region  was,  in  fact,  a  paradise  for  goats,  which  delight  in  leaves  and 
twigs,  and  care  little  for  grass.  Their  miik  in  every  form — sour,  sweet, 
thick,  thin,  warm,  or  cold — forms,  with  eggs  and  bread,  the  main  food 
of  the  people,  a  state  of  things  illustrating  very  strikingly  the  words 
of  Proverbs:  "Thou  shalt  have  goats'  milk  enough  for  thy  food,  for 
the  food  of  thy  household,  and  for  maintenance  for  their  maidens."^ 
Shepherds,  with  long  flint-guns,  were  watching  the  flocks. 

There  could  be  no  hunting-ground  for  robbers  more  suitable  than 
these  lonely  hills,  and  it  was  well  for  us  that  we  had  the  soldiers  in  our 
company.  As  we  advanced,  the  path  led  over  a  broad  desolate  plateau, 
the  waterehed  of  the  district ;  streams  moving  on  one  side  towards  the 
east,  and  on  the  other  towards  the  west.  Gradually  descending,  we 
reached,  at  last,  the  wide  skirt  of  vineyards  which  borders  Hebron  for 
miles.    The  ground  was  very  stony,  but  had  been  cleared  partly  to  get 

1  Acts  vUL !».   2  Matt.  X.  42 ;  Mark  ix.  41.   3  Matt.  xxiv.  18.   4  Deut.  xxil.  10.  5  Frov.  xxvll.  21. 


106 


tRS  HOLY  LASD  Al^D  THE  BtBLfi. 


tOiif. 


materials  for  walls  five  or  six  feet  thick,  which  were  in  every  direction; 
and  partly  to  form  paths,  a  few  feet  broad,  between  tlie*«e  ramparts. 
The  name  for  such  walls,  in  Palestine,  is  "yedurs;"  the  Hebrew  coun- 
terpart of  which,  "gadair,"  often  occiirs  in  the  Old  Testament.  Thus 
Balaam  is  said  to  have  been  riding  in  justsuch  a  narrow  "  path  between 
vinevards,  with  a  'gaduir'  on  this  side,  and  u  'gadair'  on  that  side,"^ 
so  tnat  it  was  no  wonder  the  ass  crushed  his  foot  against  one  of  them. 
Ezra  uses  the  "gadair"  as  a  symbol  of  the  peaceful  enjoyment  of  the 
land,  when  he  thanks  Ood  for  having  given  his  people  "a  'gadair'  in 
Judah  and  Jerusalem."''  These  rougii  constructions  of  dry,  unmortared 
stones  of  all  sizes  are  the  fences  of  gardens,  orchards,  vineyards,  sheep- 
folds,  and  all  other  enclosures,  and  are  therefore  employed  as  a  symbol 
of  rural  life.  Such  masses  of  loose  stones,  however,  are  not  so  stable 
as  they  look.  Rising  gradually,  after  each  clearing  of  the  surface 
insidcj  to  a  height  of  from  four  to  six  feet,  they  readily  give  way,  more 
or  less,  if  one  attempt  to  climb  them,  while  the  swelling  of  the  ground 
by  rain  often  throws  them  off  the  perpendicular,  or  they  bulge  out  in 
the  middle  from  the  pressure  of  the  mass  of  stones  against  an  ill-built 
portion  of  the  outer  coating.  At  Hebron,  I  came  frequently  upon  a 
"gadair"  which,  from  some  of  these  causes,  had  ruslicdin  promiscuous 
ruin  into  the  path,  and  left  hardly  any  space  to  get  past  its  confused 
heaps.  The  Psalmist,  therefore,  used  a  telling  ilkjstration  of  the  ruin 
awaiting  his  enemies  when  he  said,  "as  a  bowing  wall  shall  ye  be,  and 
as  a  tottering  'gadair.'"*  Of  the  vineyard  of  Israel,  the  Northern 
Kingdom,  the  inspired  writer  of  the  80th  Psalm  cries,  "Why  hast  thou 
then  [O  God]  broken  down  her  'gadairs,'  so  that  all  they  which  pass 
by  the  way  do  pluck  her?  The  boar  out  of  the  'yaar'  doth  waste  it, 
and  the  wild  beast  of  the  open  country  doth  devour  it."*  Ezekiel 
compares  the  lying  prophets  of  his  day  to  the  foxes  or  jackals  which 
hid  in  the  gaps  of  the  "gadair"  of  Israel,  helping  to  throw  them  down, 
when  it  should  have  been  the  duty  of  true  men  to  repair  them,  that 
Israel  might  stand  safely  behind  them  in  the  day  of  battle.^  With  a 
like  familiar  knowledge  of  these  structures,  Ecclesiastes  tells  us  that 
"whoso  breaketh  a  'gadair,'  a  serpent  shall  bite  him;"*  many  kinds  of 
serpents  delighting  in  the  crevices  of  such  open  walls  as  their  lurking 
place.  The  sheepfold  of  loose  stones,  so  common  in  many  parts  of  the 
country,  is  called  a  "gadairah,"  a  feminine  form  of  "gadair,"  so  that 
we  can  understand  what  the  tribes  beyond  the  Jordan  meant  when  they 
said,  "We  will  build  'gideroth  '  for  the  flocks."'  They  had  stone  in 
their  territory,  while  the  shepherds  of  the  stoneless  plains  do  not  use 
this  word,  but  substitute  for  it  another. 

1  Num.  xxU.  24.   2  Ezra  ix.  9.    3  Ps.  Ixii.  3.   4  Ps.  Ixxx.  13;  seealsolsa.  v.  5.   6  Ezek.  xiii.  4, 6; 
see  also  xxli.  30.   6  Eccles.  x.  8.   See  ante,  p.  246.   7  Num.  zxxil.  16. 


Pools  of  Hebron.    (See  page  tWb.) 


Ixili.  4, 5; 


XV.] 


HEBRON. 


197 


CHAPTER  XV. 


HEBRON. 


The  vineyards  of  Pfilestine  disappoint  those  who  have  poetical  ideas 
of  spreading  branches  and  hanging  clusters.  The  vines  are  planted  in 
wide  rows,  and  are  simply  so  many  single  sterns,  bent  at  a  sharp  angle 
with  the  ground,  and  cut  off  when  four  or  five  ff  at  long,  the  end  being 
supported  by  a  short  forked  stick,  so  that  the  slioots  may  hang  clear 
of  the  soil.  A  vineyard  is  as  prosaic  a  matter  at  Hebron  as  on  the 
Rhine;  the  vines  looking  like  so  many  dirty  sticks,  with  a  few  leaves 
on  the  shoots  from  the  top  or  sides.  There  are  towers  for  the  "  keepers 
of  the  vineyards;"^  stone  buildings,  of  no  grent  size,  by  which  a  look- 
out can  be  kept  on  all  sides;  there  is  also  a  shelter  for  the  husbandmen, 
the  vineyards  in  many  parts  being  far  from  any  village.  In  Canticles, 
Sulamitii  has  the  task  of  care-taker  assigned  to  her,^  so  that  women, 
at  times,  did  this  duty  among  the  ancient  Hebrews;  but  it  is  a  hard 
and  menial  task,  exposing  one  to  the  fierce  sun,  which,  in  Sulamilli's 
case,  burned  her  "  black."^  In  most  cases,  the  protection  for  the 
watcher  is  only  a  rude  wooden  hut,  covered  with  boughs,  so  that  Job 
could  say  of  the  frailness  and  instability  of  the  hopes  of  the  wicked, 
"  He  buildeth  his  house  ?s  a  moth,  and  as  a  booth  that  the  keeper 
maketh,"*  and  Isaiah  could  compare  Jerusalem,  made  desolate  by  war, 
to  a  "  booth  in  a  vineyard."^  The  watchmen  employed  are  generally 
armed  with  a  club,  and  are  very  faithful,  often  risking  their  lives  in 
the  protection  of  the  property  they  are  set  to  guard.  But  it  is  not 
always  easy  to  get  men  to  undertake  the  task,  since  it  not  only  involves 
danger,  but  requires  wakefulness  through  the  whole  night,  making 
even  the  most  loyal  weary  for  the  light.  It  is  to  tliis  that  the  Psalmist 
refers  when  he  says  that ''  his  soul  looketh  out  for  the  Lord,  more  than 
watchmen  [or  keepers]  for  the  morning."^  To  guard  against  drowsi- 
ness and  to  frighten  away  thieves,  they  call  out  from  time  to  time 
through  the  darkness:  a  practice  to  which  the  prophet  refers  when  he 
describes  the  Chaldaeans  as  encamped  round  Jerusalem,  and  calling  out 
like  keepers  of  a  field.'  Cain  insolently  asks,  "Am  I  my  brother's 
keeper?  "*  So  it  is  said  that  "the  Lord  keepeth  all  the  bones  of  the 
righteous,  not  one  of  them  is  broken ;  He  keepeth  the  souls  of  His 
saints;  He  keepeth  the  simple;"  and,  unlike  keepers  among  men, 
"  He  that  keepeth  Israel  neither  slumbers  nor  sleeps."^ 

The  wine  of  Hebron  is  still  famous,  and  is  very  cheap,  a  bottle  cost- 
ing about  sixpence.     On  the  hill-side,  among  the  vineyards,  an  ancient 

1  Cant.  i.  6.  2  The  word  for  "keeper"  In  this  case  is  femlulue.  8  Cant.  1. 6.  See  ante,  p.  238 
4  Job  xxvli.  18.  5  Isa.  1.  8  (Heb.).  6  Ps.  cxxx.  6.  7  Jer.  Iv.  16.  8  Gen.  iv.  9.  9  Ps.  xxxiv.  20: 
XCVii.  10;  cxvi.  6;  cxxi.  4.  ' 


198 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


[Grav. 


! 


wine-press  fortunately  stood  near  the  road,  so  that  I  was  able  to  inspect 
it  at  leisure.  It  consisted  of  two  troughs,  hewn  out  of  the  rook,  one 
higher  than  the  other,  and  both  well  cemented  on  the  sides  and  at  the 
bottom.  The  grapes  are  cast  into  the  upper  one,  and  trodden  with  the 
feet,  so  that  the  juice  flows  out  into  the  lower;  the  old  practice,  so 
often  introduced  in  Scripture,  being  followed  at  this  day.  The  length 
of  the  trough  was  only  about  four  feet,  and  it  was  not  quite  two  feet 
broad,  and  very  shallow.  The  treading  of  the  grapes  is  left  to  the 
poor,  as  in  Job's  day,  when  the  lawless  rich  "took  away  the  sheep  from 
the  hungry,  who  make  oil  within  their  walls,  and  tread  their  wine- 
presses, and  suffer  thirst."^  The  vintage,  however,  was  always,  as  it 
still  is,  a  time  of  general  gladness,  merry  songs  accompanying  it  at 
times,  while,  as  in  all  joint  work  among  Orientals,  the  laborers  encour- 
age each  other  by  shouts.  Hence,  even  now,  a  period  of  national 
trouble,  such  as  war,  could  not  be  more  vividly  painted  than  in  the 
words  of  Isaiah,  that  "in  the  vineyards  there  shall  be  no  singing, 
neither  joyful  noise;  no  treader  shall  tread  out  wine  in  the  presses;  the 
vintage  shout  shall  cease." ^  "The  shouting,"  says  Jeremiah,  in  a 
similar  passage,  "shall  be  no  shouting;"*  no  shout  of  joy,  but  the 
shout  of  battle.  The  jubilant  exultation  when  the  ruddy  grape  was 
yielding  its  wine  was,  in  those  days,  apparently,  even  more  ardent  and 
claiiiorous  than  now,  for  the  same  prophet  compares  it  to  the  cry  of  an 
attacking  host,  telling  us  that  Jehovah  will  give  a  shout,  as  they  that 
tread  the  grapes,  against  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth.*  The 
presses  are  generally  large  enough  for  several  treaders  to  crush  the 
grapes  in  them  at  once,  and  to  this  circumstance,  as  will  be  remem- 
bered, there  is  an  ino  -ect  allusion  in  the  awful  picture  of  Him  who  is 
mighty  to  .save  returning  from  the  destruction  of  His  enemies.  The 
treading  of  them  down  is  like  the  treading  out  of  the  blood  of  the 
wine-fat,  but  He  had  trodden  it  alone;  He  trod  them  (by  Himself)  in 
His  "fiiry,"  and  as  the  person  and  clothing  of  the  treaders  are  stained 
with  the  red  juice,  so,  He  says,  "their  life-blood  is  sprinkled  upon  My 
garments,  and  I  have  stained  all  My  raiment:"^  words  spoken  in 
answer  to  the  question  of  the  prophet,  "  Wherefore  art  Thou  red  in 
Thine  apparel,  and  Thy  garments  like  him  that  treadeth  in  the  wine- 
fat?"« 

The  vine  has  been  cultivated  in  Palestine  from  the  earliest  times, 
and  during  the  Hebrew  period  flourished  everywhere  over  the  land. 
Palestine  is,  indeed;  peculiarly  fitted  for  the  grape,  its  sunny  limestone 
slopes,  through  which  tlie  rains  quickly  percolate,  leaving  a  dry  sub- 
soil. The  heat  by  day  and  tlie  heavy  mists  by  night  make  it  the  very 
home  in  which  the  plant  delights.  Henoe,  long  before  the  time  of 
Moses,  it  was  not  only  a  land  "flowing  with  milk  and  honey,"  but  also 
IJobuiv.n.  2isa.xvi.ia  8  ^er.  xlTlU.  88b  4j0r.nr.ao.  ft  Ha.  IzUi.  2;  8  (R.  V.)  %  Ibid. 


XV.] 


HEBRON. 


199 


le 

the 

in 


in 

in 

ine- 


one 
,ub- 
ery 
of 
ilso 

IMd. 


famous  for  its  wine,  as  we  read  in  the  annals  of  Thoihmes  III.,  of 
Egypt,  who  reigned  1,600  years  before  Christ.^  "With  the  green  and 
silver  olive,  and  the  dark-green  fig-tree,  the  vine  was  the  characteristic 
glory  of  the  hill-country?  Every  hill-side  was  covered  with  vine- 
yardfs,  terrace  above  terrace,  while  wine-presses  and  vats  were  in  great 
numbers  hewn  in  the  rocks.  Especially  famous  were  the  vineyards  of 
Engedi,  "the  Fountain  of  the  Kid,"  by  the  Dead  Sea,^  where,  on  the 
hill-sides  north  of  the  spring,  the  terraces  on  which  they  were  situated 
are  still  as  perfect  as  in  Bible  times;  large  rock-hewn,  carefully- 
cemented  cisterns,  also,  still  remaining  on  each  terrace,  with  a  network 
of  cemented  pipes  running  from  them  in  all  directions,  to  bear  water 
to  the  root  of  each  vine.  But  the  grape  has  long  since  vanished  from 
that  locality.  Hebron,  still  famous  above  all  other  parts  of  the  land 
for  its  vines,  had  a  great  name  for  them  in  the  earliest  times.  The 
men  of  the  valley  of  Shechem  used  to  go  out,  in  the  time  of  the 
Judges,  and  gather  their  vineyards,  and  tread  the  grapes,  and  hold 
merry  meetings  over  the  vine  harvest.*  The  vineyards  of  Shiloh 
were  equally  flourishing.^  Uzziah  drew  part  of  his  revenue  from  his 
vines  at  Carmel;®  and  the  vineyard  of  Naboth,  at  Jezreel,  is  only  too 
sadly  commemorated.*^  Outside  Palestine,  Lebanon  yielded  wine 
which  was  greatly  praised,*  and  the  vines  of  north  Moab,  especially 
those  of  the  now  unknown  Sibmah,  were  in  very  high  repute,®  as  were 
also  those  of  Helbon,  near  Damascus,i®which  are  still  highly  esteemed. 
On  the  Lake  of  Galilee,  Josephus  tells  us,  the  plain  of  Gennesareth, 
warm  as  Egypt,  yielded  grr.pes  for  ten  months  in  the  year," which  one 
can  hardly  realize  when  he  looks  at  it  now,  bearing  nothing  more  valu- 
able than  thistles.  So  general,  indeed,  was  the  diffusion  of  the  vine 
that,  as  we  have  seen,  even  the  now  desolate  valleys  south  of  Beer- 
sheba  show  long  swathes  of  stone  heaps,  over  which  vines  grew  in 
ancient  times.  Eshcol,  from  which  the  spies  brought  the  wonderful 
cluster,  must,  in  fact,  have  been  in  that  region:  not,  as  often  supposed, 
near  Hebron;  for  Israel,  as  has  been  noticed,  was  then,  encamped  at 
Kadesh,  and  the  prize  must  have  be/^n  found  comparatively  near  that 
place,  since  the  spies  could  not  have  uared  to  carry  it  for  any  distance 
through  a  hostile  and  alarmed  population^^Kadesh,  however,  lay  just 
to  the  east  of  the  grape-mound  region,  and  could  easily  be  reached 
with  the  precious  burden  without  notice  being  attracted,  the  desert 
lying  near  the  valley  that  yielded  it.  Yet  Eshcol  does  not  appear  to 
have  grown  finer  grapes  than  southern  Judaea,  to  the  north  of  it,  if  we 
may  judge  from  the  dying  blessing  of  Jacob,  which  paints  Judah  as 

1  Records  qf  the  Paa,  11.  44.  2  Gen.  xllx.  11 :  Deut.  vi.  11 ;  vlll.  8;  Num.  xvl.  14;  Josh.  xxlv.  13; 
1  Sam.  viil.  14:  Jer.  xxxlx.  10;  2Klngsxxv.  12;  Neh.  V.3.  3  Cant.  1.14.  4  Jude.  ix.  27.  6  .Tudg. 
xxi.  20.  6  2  Chron.  xxvl.  10.  7  1  Kings  xxl.  1.  8  Cant.  Till.  11;  Hos.  ziv.  7.  9  Isa.  xvl.  8—10; 
Jer.xlTm.32,83.  10Ezek.zxTU.18.  n  J09.  JBcO. /ttd.,  lU.  10, 8.  12  See  ante,  p.  260. 


200 


THE   HOLY  LAND   AND  THE   BIBLE. 


[Or    f. 


"washing  its  garments  in  wine,  and  its  clothes  in  the  blood  of  the 
grane"! 

A  vineyard  needs  to  be  carefully  fenced,  tj  keep  sheep,  goats,  or 
cattle  from  eating  it  down ;  and  hence  the  "  gadair,"  or  loose  stone 
wall,  round  it,  is  constantly  mentioned,  as  are  the  clearing  oft'  of  the 
loose  surface  stones,  and  the  building  of  a  tower  in  it,  and  the  hewing 
out  of  a  wine-press,2  which  are  still  necessary,  as  of  old.  Pj-ivate 
malignity,  in  ancient  as  in  modern  times,  might  be  tempted  to  let 
flocks  or  herds  into  an  enemy's  vineyard ;  but  against  this  the  law 
made  provision,  by  enacting  that  if  a  man  shall  cause  a  vineyard  to 
be  eaten,  "of  the  best  of  his  own  vineyard  shall  he  make  resitu- 
tion."  *  After  the  vintage,  however,  the  owner,  even  noM',  turns  in 
his  own  beasts  to  browse ;  and  when  the  vines  are  pruned,  in  the 
spring,  the  trimmings  are  carefully  gathered  as  forage.  The  jackal, 
v^hich  differs  from  the  fox  in  liking  fruit  as  well  as  flesh,  is  a  foe  to 
the  vine-grower  in  every  part  of  the  country,  and  in  Lebanon  the  wild 
boar  sometimes  breaks  through  and  does  much  damage — "the  boar 
out  of  the  wood  doth  waste  it,  and  the  wild  beast  doth  devour  it."* 
The  foxes — that  is,  the  jackals — still  need  to  be  "  taken,"  as  much  .as 
when  the  Beloved,  in  Canticles,  longed  for  their  capture.^ 

Though  vineyards,  as  has  been  said,  are  prosaic-looking  enough,  I 
found  at  Damascus  and  elsewhere,  trained  over  lattice-work  in  the 
court  yards  of  houses,  or  against  the  walls,  some  vines  which  were 
more  in  keeping  with  our  preconceived  ideas,  since  they  covered  a 
broad  space  or  adorned  the  whole  breadth  of  a  dwelling,  as  it  is  clear 
they  must  have  done  also,  in  some  cases,  in  Bible  times,  from  the  com- 
parison of  the  mother  of  a  large  and  beautiful  family  to  a  "  fruitful 
vine  by  the  sides  of  a  house."*  In  vine-yards,  however,  the  vines 
are  rigorously  pruned  back  each  year,  only  three  or  four  shoots  being 
left  at  the  top  of  the  short  black  stem,  as  in  the  time  of  our  Lord: 
"  Every  branch  that  beareth  fruit,  the  husbandman  purgeth  " — that  is 
prunes — "  that  it  may  bring  forth  more  fruit." '^ 

Grapes  are  sold  in  Jerusalem  as  early  as  the  end  of  July,  but  the 
regular  grape-harvest  does  not  begin,  even  in  warm  situations,  till  the 
opening  of  September,  and  in  colder  positions  it  continues  till  the  end 
of  October,  while  the  sowing-time  for  corn  is  in  November.  Thus, 
when  there  is  a  rich  grape  harvest,  and  an  early  fall  of  the  first  rains, 
the  image  of  plenty  pictured  by  Amos  is  realized :  "  Behold  the  days 
come,  saith  the  Lord,  that  the  plowman  shall  overtake  the  reaper,  and 
the  treader  of  grapes  him  that  soweth  seed."*  It  is  not  uncommon 
to  find  a  vine  trained  over  a  fig-tree  in  a  garden,  for  the  shade  it 
affords,  as  in  old  times,  when  it  was  a  favorite  image  of  peacefiil 

1  Gen.  xlix.  11.   2  Isa.  v. ^:  Ps.  Ixxx.  12;  Matt.  xxi.  33:  Mark  xii.  1.   8  Ex.  xxil. 5.   4  Fs.  Izxz. 
13.   5Cant.  ii.  16.   6  Ps.  cxxviii.  3.    7  John  xv.  2;  Isa.  v.  9.   8  Amos  Ix.  13. 


XV.J 


HEBRON. 


201 


[the 

the 

lend 

lUS, 

^ins, 
lays 
land 
ion 
Jle  it 
lefiil 
ixtx. 


security  that  a  man  should  be  able  to  sit  "  under  his  vine  and  under 
his  fig-tree,"  and  no  one  should  make  him  afraid.^  This  may  mean 
either  a  trellised  vine,  shading  the  court  of  the  house,  or  a  fig-tree 
growing  near,  or  the  two  growing  together. 

Red  grapes  were  grown  much  more  than  green,  and  thus  the  wine 
in  common  use  readily  supplied  our  Lord,  on  the  occasion  of  the  Last 
Supper,  with  an  emblem  of  His  blood  shed  for  the  salvation  of  man- 
kind ;  2  hence,  too,  we  so  often  read  of  the  "  blood "  of  the  grape.^ 
At  present,  however,  at  Hebron  and  Bethlehem,  green  grapes  are 
grown  almost  exclusively,  and  it  may  also  have  been  so  in  olden  times. 
Indeed,  it  is  quite  possible  that  the  famous  cluster  from  Eshcol  was 
green,  as  this  variety  is  still  famous  for  its  huge  berries  and  clusters, 
many  of  the  latter  being  three  pounds  in  weight,  while  they  occasion- 
ally reach  from  nine  to  twelve. 

Wine-presses  cut  in  the  rocks  are  found  in  nearly  every  part  of  the 
country,  and  are  the  only  sure  relics  we  have  of  the  old  days  of  Israel 
before  the  Captivity.  Between  Hebron  and  Beersheba  they  are  found 
on  all  the  hill-slopes ;  they  abound  in  Southern  Judaea ;  they  are  no 
less  common  in  the  many  valleys  of  Carmel,  and  they  are  numerous 
in  Galilee.  With  such  an  abundance,  it  was  natural  that  there  should 
be  liberality ;  and  hence  the  law  permitted  the  traveller  to  eat  at  his 
will  as  he  passed,  though  he  was  not  to  carry  oft'  any  grapes  in  a 
vessel.*  In  the  same  spirit  the  right  of  gleaning  was  legally  reserved 
to  the  poor.^ 

The  use  of  wine  having  been  prohibited  by  Mahomet,  the  vine  is 
not  now  much  cultivated  in  Palestine;  the  products  of  the  grape  are, 
however,  to  be  found  in  every  market.  Raisins  are  still  dried,  as  they 
were  in  Southern  Judaea  when  Abigail,  among  other  gifts,  carried  a 
hundred  bunches  of  them  to  make  peace  with  David.®  They  must 
also  have  been  seen  on  the  fruit-stalls  in  all  the  Israehtish  cities  and 
towns,  as  they  are  frequently  mentioned  in  Scripture' — sometimes, 
indeed,  when  readers  of  the  English  would  not  suspect  it,  for  the  word 
translated  "flagons  of  wine"  in  several  passages  should  really  be 
rendered  "cakes  of  raisins."^  The  ancient  Hebrews  likewise  used 
the  syrup  of  grapes,  or  "dibs,"  which,  with  rasins,  is  the  only  product 
a  Mahommedan  takes  from  his  vineyard.  It  is  made  by  boiling 
down  the  juice  of  ripe  grapes  to  a  third  of  its  bulk,  thus  making  it 
like  treacle,  though  of  a  lighter  color.  It  was,  perhaps,  used  in  Bible 
times,  as  it  is  now,  either  in  making  sweetmeats,  or  mixed  with  water, 
to  be  eaten  with  bread.  It  is  called  "  honey"  in  Scripture,®  so  that  in 
many  passages  it  is  impossible  to  tell  whether  the  honey  of  bees,  or 

1  Mic.  iv.  4;  Zech.  iii.  10;  1  Kings  iv.  25;  1  Mace.  xiv.  12.  2  Matt.  xxvi.  28.  8  Isa.  Ixiii.  3, «: 
Ecclus.  xxxix.  26.  4  Deut.  xxiii.  24.  5.  Lev.  xix.  10;  Deut.  xxiv.  21.  6  1  Sam.  xxv.  18.  7  1  Sam. 
XXX.  12;  1  Chron.  xil.  40;  2  Sam.  xvi.  1.  8  2  Sam.  vi.  19;  1  ChroQ.  xvi.  3;  Cant.  U.6:  Hos. Ui.  1. 
9  "Debash." 


202 


THE  HOLT  LAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


[CHAP. 


this  syrup,  is  intended.  It  would  seem,  however,  that  that  which 
Jacob  sent  with  spices,  &c.,  to  the  great  man  in  Egypt  was  "  dibs,"  and 
not  bees'  lioney,  and  that  it  was  "  dibs  "  which  Ezekiel  speaks  of  as 
being  sent  largely  to  Tyre.^ 

It  was  the  custom  in  ancient  times,  as  it  still  is  in  the  East,  to  mix 
spices  and  other  ingredients  with  wine,  to  give  it  a  special  flavor,  or 
make  it  stronger,  or  the  reverse.  This  is  the  "  strong  drink"  of  which 
Isaiah  speaks,'^  and  the  "spiced  wine"  of  the  Canticles,*  and  it  is  like- 
wise the  wine  which  "Wisdom  "  mingled,"  and  to  which  she  invites 
the  wise ;  but  it  is  also  that  "  mixed  wine "  to  look  on  which,  the 
Book  of  Proverbs  tells  us,  is  to  bring  on  one-self  woe ;  *  and  it  is  to  this 
that  the  awful  verse  refers,  "  In  the  hand  of  the  Lord  there  is  a  cup, 
and  the  wine  is  red  ;  it  ia  full  of  mixturer^  Another  kind  of  wine, 
generally  translated  "  vinegar "  in  our  version,  also  in  the  Revised 
Version,  is  the  common  sour  wine  used  by  the  poor.  It  was  this  into 
which  I^uth  was  to  dip  her  bread  as  she  sat  beside  the  reapers.*  In 
all  probability,  moreover,  it  was  this  which  was  offered  to  our  Saviour 
on  the  cross,'  since  it  was  part  of  the  daily  allowance  of  a  Eoman 
soldier,  and  was  given,  not  in  derision,  but  in  pity,  to  quench  His  thirst 
or  dull  His  agony,  the  soldiers  having  more  sympathy  with  him  than 
the  priests  or  the  Jewish  people.  When  Isaiah  speaks  of  "  wine  on 
the  lees,  well  refined "  as  part  of  the  great  feast  in  the  day  of  the 
triumph  of  God's  people,  he  alludes  to  the  custom  pf  leaving  new  wine 
for  a  time  on  its  lees,  after  fermentation,  to  improve  its  strength  and 
color.  It  being  thus  left,  all  impurities  settled,  and  it  is  drawn  off 
clear  and  bright.®  Palestine  in  our  day  is  a  very  sober  country,  a 
drunken  person  being  very  seldom  seen;  but  I  fear  as  much  could  not 
be  said  for  olden  times,  since  drunkenness  is  mentioned,  either  metp 
phorically  or  literally,  more  than  seventy  times  in  the  Bible. 

The  road  from  Beit  Jibrin  to  Hebron  has  few  places  of  historical 
importance  in  its  long,  dreary  ascent;  but  it  is  otherwise  with  that 
from  Adullam,  which  lies  about  fifteen  miles  north  of  Hebron,  in  a 
straight  line — nearly  the  same  distance  as  the  road  we  came.  I  have 
already  spoken  of  the  number  of  ruin-covered  sites  on  the  other  side 
of  Adullam;  they  are  equally  numerous  as  you  ride  southward. 
Indeed,  Captain  Conder  reckons  that  there  are  three  in  every  two 
square  miles;  so  dense  was  the  population  in  early  times.  Hebron 
Hes  over  2,000  feet  higher  than  Beit  Jibrin;  but  though  Adullam  is 
on  a  higher  level  than  Beit  Jibrin,  the  road  from  it  to  Hebron  is  a  con- 
tinual ascent  also.  The  Hill  of  Adullam  is  in  a  region  of  caves,  which, 
in  some  of  the  valleys,  are  still  inhabited  by  veritable  cave-dwellers, 
like  those  in  the  south.    To  the  north-west,  beyond  the  hills,  lie  the 

1  Oen.  zliU.  11 ;  Ezek.  xxTli.  17.   2  Isa.  ▼.  22.   3  Cant.  vilL  2.  4  FtOT.  tab  St  nltt.  MK  6  F8.  Ixzy. 
8.   6ButhU.14.   7Matt.xxTiL48.   8lM.zxT.«. 


XV.J 


HfiBRO^. 


20d 


IT. 


charming  olive-groves  through  wliioh  we  passed  before.  On  the  other 
side  of  these  the  road  winds,  roughly  eiiougii,  up  a  confusion  of  small 
glens — hollows  green  witli  corn  in  spring — though  the  peasants  who 
have  planted  it  are  nowhere  to  be  seen,  as  tliey  live  in  distant  villages. 
On  every  side  are  stony  hills,  bright  with  cyclamen  and  anemone,  but 
without  a  human  habitation.  Krom  Adullam  the  road  leads  up  the 
Wady  es  Sur,  which  is  the  upper  part  of  the  valley  of  Elah,  conse- 
crated to  the  memorv  of  Samson  and  David.  Traces  of  a  road  older 
than  the  Roman  period  show  themselves  in  the  broad  valley,  as  we 
ascend  it,  past  Keilah  and  liareth,  where  it  shrinks  into  a  mere  gully, 
amidst  steep,  bare  hills,  through  and  up  which  the  patli  is  lit  for  goats 
rather  than  for  horses.  A  bare  plateau  is  at  last  reached,  like  that 
met  with  in  coming  from  Beit  Jibrin,  and  the  track  soon  begins  to 
descend,  about  300  feet,  to  reach  Hebron.  The  hills,  in  fact,  are  about 
that  height  above  the  ancient  town,  by  both  approaches.  Bare  rocks, 
tracts  of  brushwood,  and  stretches  of  meagre  pasture  gradually  give 
place  to  vineyards  and  orchards,  and  we  ride  on  longing  to  sea  Abra- 
ham's city,  but  doomed  to  be  disappointed  till  the  last  moment,  for 
only  then  does  it  come  in  sight. 

A  mile  from  Hebron,  on  a  slope  to  the  right  of  the  narrow,  stony 
path,  between  vineyards  and  their  great  loose  "  gadaii-s,"  stands  the 
Russian  hospice,  built  to  provide  accommodation  for  the  pilgrims  of 
the  Greek  Church,  who  flock  to  Hebron  in  great  numbers  each  year 
to  visit  Jutta,  the  reputed  birth-place  of  St.  John  the  Baptist,  which 
is  a  few  miles  off.  It  is  a  large,  flat-roofed,  stone  building,  and  must 
be  a  great  blessing  to  the  poor  wanderers  from  the  wide  regions  of  the 
Russian  Empire.  Just  before  it  stands  a  magnificent  old  evergreen 
holm  oak,  which  is  venerated  as  the  very  tree  under  which  Abraham's 
tent  was  pitched  at  Mamre.  But  it  is  easier  to  make  this  assertion 
than  to  prove  it;  for  it  is  quite  certain  that  this  particular  tree,  though 
it  has  been  worahipped  for  at  least  300  years  as  "Abraham's  Oak,"  is 
only  of  yesterday  compared  with  the  long  ages  since  the  patriarch's 
day.  Moreover,  it  is  not  destined  to  contiime  very  much  longer  an 
object  of  veneration,  as  it  is  growing  old,  and  has  lost  more  than  half 
its  branches  during  the  last  twenty-fivo  years.  Still,  it  looks  vigorous 
in  parts,  though  some  of  its  boughs  are  apparently  dead;  and  perhaps 
it  may  yet  weather  some  generations.  At  the  ground  its  trunk 
measures  thirty-two  feet  in  circinnferojce,  and  at  the  height  of  about 
twenty  feet  it  divides  into  a  nutnber  of  Imge  limbs — some  vigorous, 
some  dry  and  leafless — spreading  out  to  a  distance  of  about  ninety-five 
steps  round.  Josephus  tells  us  that  the  Tree  of  Abraham  stood  three- 
quarters  of  a  mile  from  Hebron,  and  was  a  very  great  and  very  ancient 
terebinth;  but  in  the  fourth  century  a  similar  tree  was  shown  two 
miles  north  of  Hebron  as  that  of  the  patriarch.    It  is  hard,  therefore, 


204 


THE  ttOLY  LAKD  AlfD  THE  BIBLE. 


[Cbat. 


to  decide  which  is  the  true  spot,  though  the  Buasian  hospice,  I  fear, 
enjoys  only  an  apocrypluvl  glory  from  iitj  great  oak.  The  vines  on  the 
slope  were  partly  lying  along  the  ground,  and  partly  propped  on  low 
forked  sticks;  the  soil  of  one  vineyard  was  well  cleared  of  stones  and 
weeds,  while  that  of  another  was  rough  and  foul.  The  stems  of  the 
vines  were  on  an  average  six  to  eight  inches  round,  with  shoots  thick 
enough,  at  times,  for  such  sceptres  as  Ezekiel  tells  us  could  be  made 
from  the  "strong  rods"  of  the  vme  of  Israel.^  From  my  own  experi- 
ence I  could  once  and  again  repeat,  as  my  horse  stumbled  on  over  the 
stone-heaped  path,  the  words  of  Proverbs^  :  "  I  went  by  the  vineyard 
of  the  man  void  of  understanding,  and  lo,  it  was  all  grown  over  with 
thorns,  and  nettles  had  covered  tiie  face  thereof,  and  the  stone  wall 
thereof  was  broken  down,"  This  vineyard,  indeed,  lay  well-nigh 
across  the  whole  path,  in  a  steep  slope.  A  spring  ran  at  the  side  of 
the  road,  from  below  a  small  cano{)y,  as  we  aj)proached  Hebron,  mak- 
ing the  borders  of  it^  channel  bright  with  grass  and  flowers. 

At  last  we  rode  down  a  sloj)e  between  stone  walls,  interrupted  by  a 
few  two-story  stone  houses  at  the  sides  of  a  broader  road,  figs  and 
olives  filling  most  of  the  space  on  either  hand,  and,  turning  sharply  to 
the  right,  were  before  one  of  the  gates  of  Kiriuth  Arba,  as  the  ancient 
Hebron  was  once  called.  This  old  name  probably  meant  "  the  City  of 
Arbn,"  some  old  Canaanite  hero;  but  it  was  explained  by  the  Jews  as 
meaning  "the  City  of  Four" — Abraham,  Isaac,  Jacob,  and  Adam,  who 
were  all  alleged  to  have  been  buried  here — Arba  standing  for  "  four" 
in  Hebrew.  The  Arabs  of  to-day  call  the  city  El-Khalil — "  the 
ii^riend  " — in  memory  of  the  universally-honored  patriarch  Abraham, 
"the  friend  of  God."^  The  gate  was  a  solid  building,  blocking  up  the 
street,  with  an  arch  for  entrance.  Loungers  sat  at  the  low  walls  lead- 
ing to  it;  women  and  men  were  busy  drawing  water  from  a  stone- 
covered  well  with  stei)s,  just  before  it,  the  stone  mouth  deeply  furrowed 
by  the  ropes  of  centuries;  and  on  the  other  side  of  the  left  wall  lay 
one  of  the  pools  of  Hebron,  over  which,  perhaps,  nearly  8,000  years 
ago,  men  saw  hung  up  the  hands  and  feet  of  the  murderers  of 
Ishbosheth,  Saul's  son,  who  were  slain  by  order  of  David.*  A  sta*ip 
of  olive-trees  lay  behind,  on  each  side,  a  very  suitable  spot  for  pitch- 
ing our  tents  upon,  but  unfortunately  they  had  not  come.  Happily 
for  us,  however,  the  German  medical  missionary,  who  lived  close  to 
the  gate,  kindly  invited  us  to  stay  with  him,  so  that  we  had  the  luxury 
of  a  house  instead  of  the  wretchedness  of  canvas.  Having  rested  and 
taken  some  refreshment,  it  was  necessary  to  make  inquiries  about  our 
missing  asses,  and  for  this  purpose  we  had  to  go  to  the  governor's 
quarters. 

The  streets  were  filthy  beyond  description,  and  some  of  them  were 

1  Ezek.  xix.  11.   2  Prov.  xxiv.  30, 31.    3  James  ii.  28.   4  2  Sam.  iv.  12. 


xv.i 


HEBRON. 


205 


y 

to 


ur 


jre 


sunk  in  the  middle,  for  cattle  and  beasts  of  burden,  as  some  of  those  in 
Jerusalem  still  are,  and  as  all,  probably,  once  were.  At  last  we  reached 
the  house  of  the  commanding  officer  for  Southern  Palestine,  who  is 
governor  of  tiio  town.  The  room  into  which  we  were  conducted  was 
furnished  with  a  cushioned  divan,  or  sofa,  on  one  side,  and  a  lower  seat 
on  another.  The  German  medical  man  who  had  come  with  ua  sat 
down  on  this,  cross-legged ;  the  great  man  motioned  my  friend  and  me 
to  the  higher  seat  of  honor.  First,  however,  came  the  salutation  of  my 
friend,  who,  being  known  to  the  governor,  was  kissed  by  him  on  both 
cheeks,  his  beard  stroked,  and  his  knee  patted  after  he  had  sat  down. 
So  Joab  took  Amasa  by  the  beard  with  the  right  hand,  to  ki.ss  him,^ 
though  with  treacherous  designs  not  entertained  by  the  governor.  The 
chamber  was  carpeted,  and  there  was  some  pretence  to  neatness  in  the 
decoration  of  the  walls;  but  the  approach  to  the  house,  and  even  the 
entrance,  were  like  a  wynd  in  Sunderland  or  Edinburgh  ;  indeed,  not 
half  so  respectable  as  such  places  are  now,  for  no  slum  in  the  East- End 
of  London  can  be  imagined  so  offensive.  Coffee  and  cigarettes  were 
of  course  handed  round,  and  the  subject  of  our  visit  broached.  Notli- 
ing  could  be  more  courteous  than  the  governor's  bearing.  "  He  would 
instantly  send  soldiers  off  after  the  asses."  The  man  who  brought  the 
coffee  took  the  order;  a  sergeant  presently  appeared,  and  the  patrol 
was  off  on  horseback  within  a  few  minutes. 

Many  of  tlie  streets  through  which  we  passed  are  arched  like  tunnels, 
with  dwellings  over  them,  out  of  sight,  the  approaches  being  through 
the  dt..iS  which  serve  as  shop ;.  A  wall  three  feet  high  and  two  broad, 
running  in  front  of  these,  forms  a  counter  on  which  the  tradesman  ex- 
poses his  goods  for  sale,  he  himself  often  taking  his  seat,  cross-legged, 
among  them.  The  shops  were  only  small  recesses,  without  any  light 
except  from  the  front,  and  very  little  coming  even  from  that  direction, 
for  the  street  in  many  parts  was  nothing  more  than  a  long  stone  arch- 
way :  a  delightful  place  for  an  unscrupulous  shop-keeper,  for  no  one 
can  see  defects.  The  Jewish  quarter  has  gates,  which  are  shut  at  night, 
and  so  with  the  .other  parts  of  the  town.  In  the  Jewish  district  the 
filth  was  simply  distressing. 

Our  greeting  in  the  governor's  house  was  only  a  sample  of  what 
was  to  be  seen  when  any  neighbors  happened  to  meet,  for  the  greatest 
care  is  taken  to  observe  every  detail  of  conventional  good  manners. 
When  two  men  meet  they  lay  the  right  hand  on  the  heart,  then  raise 
it  to  the  brow,  or  the  mouth,  and  only  after  this  take  hold  of  each 
other's  right  hand.  Then  follows  a  string  of  sounding  words,  expressive 
v'l  intense  mutual  interest  in  each  other's  fathers,  grandfathers,  and 
ancestry  generally,  with  numberless  other  inquiries  before  they  bid 
good  day  and  pass  on.      The  insincerity  of  such  protracted  greetings, 

1  2  Sam.  xz.  9. 


M 


tttE   rtOLV  tAlfn   AlfD  TliE   BIBLE. 


t^A». 


the  waste  of  time,  and  above  all  the  distraction  from  the  mission  of  the 
disciples  which  would  inevitably  arise,  sufficiently  explain  our  Lord's 
command  to  His  messengers  to  "salute  no  man  by  tlie  way."^  An 
Oriental  cannot  forbear  from  a  long  gossip  as  often  as  he  stops,  and  is ' 
delighted  with  nothing  so  much  as  mixing  himself  up  with  tne  Hettle- 
ment  of  any  business  transaction  which  he  may  casually  encounter  on 
his  journey.  The  directions  not  to  carry  either  purse,  scrip,  shoes,  or 
staft',^  were  as  strange  to  Eastern  habits  as  the  forbidding  of  saluta- 
tions. When  journeying  any  distance  from  home,  the  Oriental  puts 
some  of  the  thin  leathery  bread  of  the  country,  sonje  dried  figs,  a  few 
olives,  and  perhaps  a  little  cheese,  into  his  "scrip"  or  "wallet" — a 
leather  bag  made  of  the  whole  skin  of  a  kid — which  hangs  from  his 
shoulders,  and  with  this  simple  fare,  and  some  water  from  a  fountain, 
he  satisfies  his  hunger  and  thirst.  In  Christ's  day,  however,  an  addi- 
tional motive  led  the  Jews  to  carry  wiih  them  this  "scrip"  filled  v;ith 
eatables  legally  "  clean."  On  everv  side  they  were  among  heathen — 
or  among  Samaritans,  whi".h  they  thought  almost  worse — and  to  taste 
food  prepared  by  persons  so  utterly  "unclean"  was  defilement.  Hence 
each  individual  of  the  thousands  whom  our  Lord  twice  miraculously 
fed  had  a  "basket,"  which  was  just  this  scrip,  that  he  might  always 
avoid  what  had  been  prepared  by  anyone  who  was  not  a  Jew.  This 
"basket,"  indeed,  was  so  invariable  a  part  of  a  Jew's  outfit,  wherever 
he  was  found,  that  Ju^  »nal,  the  Roman  satirist,  notices  it  as  familiar 
in  Italy .^      That  the  disciples  were  not  to  take  this  inseparable  accom- 

Eaniment  of  their  countrymen  with  them  was  a  deadly  blow  at  the 
evitical  purism  of  the  day,  only  to  be  compared,  in  our  own  times, 
with  an  injunction  by  a  Brahmin  to  his  disciples  no  longer  to  pay 
attention  to  caste,  though  hitherto  it  has  been  their  supreme  concern. 
To  take  no  money  with  them  threw  these  first  missionaries  directly  on 
the  good  feeling  of  those  to  whom  they  were  sent:  a  more  likely 
means,  surely,  of  awaking  personal  interest,  and  opening  a  way  for  the 
Gospel,  than  if  they  had  borne  themselves  independently,  as  those  who 
made  at  least  their  living  by  their  office,  and  could  pay  for  their  sus- 
tenance. They  were  to  go  forth  with  empty  girdles — that  is,  penniless, 
the  girdle  being  still  the  purse  of  the  Oriental;  it  <vas  to  be  their  trust 
that  love  would  beget  love,  as  it  always  does,  and  they  were  to  show 
that  they  sought  the  sheep  rather  than  the  fleece.  Nor  were  they  to 
encumber  themselves  in  any  way.  They  were  to  show  by  their  poverty 
that  they  believed  what  they  preached  when  they  said  that  their  king- 
dom was  not  of  this  world,  and  tliat  they  were  fired  by  an  enthusiasm 
which  threw  aside  every  encumbrance,  and  trusted  to  their  heavenly 
Father  for  daily  bread  and  friendly  aid. 

1  Luke  X.  4.     2  Matt.  x.  9, 10 ;  Mark  vi.  8 ;  Luke  ix.  3 ;  x.  4 ;  xxii.  35.    3  Juv.  Sal.,  111.  14 ;  vl.  611 ; 
lee  also  Wahl,  Oavis,  278  b. 


.  ■-;i^', '■  'ifv.,-^; 


^:^^: 


to 

rty 
ng- 

jnly 


■^vi*! 


V    ■-'■»s,--*ri-*»-.  ■•       ■■  -,■ 


.^5. 

""*<-..-'' 


^?*iv  ■  -'^.'f-. 


And  it  came  to  pusa  after  tliis, 
that  David  (MjqiiinHl  of  the  Lord. 
Bayinji;,  Shall  I  go  up  into  any  of 
the  citii>s  of  Judah?  And  the 
Lord  said  unto  him,  Go  up.  And 
David  said,  Whither  shall  I  go 
up?  And  he  said,  Unto  Hebron. 
So  David  went  up  tliither,  and  his  two  wives.  .  . 

And  his  men  that  were  with  him  did  Duvid 
bring  up,  every  man  with  his  household ;  and 
they  dwelt  in  the  citiea  of  Hebron.  And  the  men 
of  Judah  came,  and  there  they  anointed  David 
liing  over  the  house  of  Judah. 

And  the  time  that  David  was  king  in  Hebron 
over  the  house  of  Judah  was  seven  years  and  six 
months. — 2  Sam.  ii.  1-4, 11. 


.-li'-^o^'^. 


EUIN8  OF  A  WELI,  SOUTH  OF  HEBRON.    (See  page  216.) 


.641; 


XTJ 


HIBROV. 


207 


Some  of  the  itreets  of  Hebron  were  shielded  fVom  the  sun  by  straw 
or  palm  mats.  The  fVuit  market  was  especially  good.  There  were 
piles  of  oranges  IVom  Joppa,  of  dutes  from  Egypt,  of  raisins  and  figs 
grown  in  Hebron  itself,  as  well  as  in  other  places.  Besides  these,  glass* 
ware  formed  one  of  the  chief  articles  for  sale;  Hebron  having  once 
enjoyed  almost  a  monopoly  of  vitreous  productions  in  the  markets  of 
E^ypt  and  Syria,  and  still  filling  those  of  Jerusalem  and  other  towni 
with  them.  Many  camel-loads  of  glass  bracelets  and  rings  are  sent  to 
Jerusalem  at  Eanter,  and  the  v  seem  to  be  the  sole  articles  sold  by  some 
lar^c  establishments  near  tne  Holy  Sepulchre.  The  glass-works  in 
which  these  trinke^ii,  so  peculiar  to  Hebron,  are  made  seem  strange  to 
Western  eyes,  for  they  consist  of  only  a  low,  miserable,  earth-floored 
room,  wretched  in  every  sense,  with  three  or  four  small  furnaces  in  it, 
filled  with  melted  glass ;  primitive  bellows  being  used  to  raise  sufAcient 
heat,  with  charcoal  for  fuel.  An  iron  rod  thrust  into  the  glowing  mass 
brings  out  a  little  of  it,  which  is  quickly  twisted  and  bent  into  a  circle, 
and  simply  ornamented  by  the  clever  use  of  a  long  metal  blade,  like  a 
butcher's  knife.  Thrust  a  second  time  into  the  furnace,  it  is  then,  by 
means  of  a  second  rod,  lengthened  and  finished;  the  whole  time 
required  for  the  manufacture  of  a  bracelet  being  only  a  minute  or  two. 
The  colors  on  those  seen  in  Jerusalen  and  elsewhere  are  mingled  in  the 
furnace,  or  added  by  such  manipulations  as  are  practiced  by  the  glass- 
blowers  of  Venice.  Among  the  other  staple  industries  of  Hebron  is 
the  manufacture  of  leather  bottles  from  goats'  skins,  of  earthen  pottery, 
and  of  light  woollen  fabrics ;  while  a  steady  succession  of  caravans 
brings  to  the  city,  by  way  of  the  desert,  the  produce  and  manufactures 
of  Egypt.  The  weavers'  quarter  is  near  one  of  the  bazaars,  and  is  very 
poor,  the  workshops  being  only  so  many  halves  of  cellars,  in  which  the 
workmen  sit  on  tne  ground,  cross-legged.      Nothing  could  be  more 

Erimitive  than  the  looms,  but  the  weaving  seems  no  longer  to  be  done 
y  wonien  as  it  used  to  be  in  ancient  times,*  for  only  men  were  driv- 
ing the  shuttle,  as  was  the  cases  with  the  ancient  Egyp^Jans. 

The  hoiises  at  Hebron  are  of  stone,  many  being  of  two,  and  some  of 
three,  stories;''  but  owing  to  the  scarcity  of  wood,  each  floor  is  really 
a  set  of  vaults,  with  arwies  meeting  overhead  from  the  comer  of  each 
room,  the  domes  being  hidden,  on  the  upper  story,  by  a  parapet, 
within  which,  round  the  top  of  the  arch,  is  a  flat  space,  such  as  Orien- 
tals delight  in.  Built  on  the  slopes  of  a  hill,  the  houses  rise  above 
each  other,  terrace  over  terrace,  with  a  fine  effect.  The  great  mosque 
over  the  cave  of  Machpelah  stands  out  above  all,  as  the  chief  building 
of  the  town.  Drainage,  the  lighting  of  the  streets,  water  supply 
brought  to  the  houses,  any  system  of  cleaning  the  streets,  are  of  course 
unknown ;  indeed,  there  never  seem  to  have  been  any  such  Western 
1  rroT.i>xL18i2KliigizxU1.7.  See  onte.,  p.  ITS. 


208 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


[Chap. 


impertinences  in  an  Eastern  town  or  city,  except  perhaps  in  CsBsarea, 
which  Herod  drained  in  the  Roman  manner.  Tlie  population  was  said 
by  the  German  missionary  to  be  17,000  of  whom  2,000  are  Jews,  and 
the  rest  bigoted  Mahommedans,  there  being  only  five  Christians  in  the 
whole  city. 

A  part  of  Hebron,  the  western,  is  still  called  Eshcolah,  from  Eshcol, 
the  king  in  Abraham's  day,  and  a  small  wady  near  is  called  Wady 
Eshcol.i  There  are  two  pools,  with  stairs  leading  down  to  the  water; 
they  are  not  often  full,  but  sometimes,  after  long-continued  rains,  they 
overflow.  One,  some  distance  down  the  valley,  is  called  "Othniel's 
Pool,''  by  a  mistake  as  to  the  scene  of  Caleb's  gift  of  the  upper  and 
lower  springs  to  his  laughter.^  The  sides  are  cemented,  but  the  water 
was  green,  and,  as  Westerns  would  think,  unfit  for  use.  The  other 
pool,  which  I  passed  on  entering  the  town,  is  "Abraham's  Pool." 
J3oth  are  of  a  good  size,  the  lower  one  133  feet  square,  and  about 
twenty-two  feet  deep;  the  other,  at  the  town,  eighty-five  feet  by  fifty- 
five,  and  nineteen  feet  deep.  Men  and  women  are  constantly  ascending 
and  descending  the  steps  inside,  the  former  with  great  black  skin  bot- 
tles on  their  backs,  the  women  with  large  water-jars.  On  tlie  open 
ground  round  the  other  pool  naked  and  half-naked  Mahommedan  child- 
ren were  wrangling  and  playing — fierce  shoots  from  a  fierce  stock. 
Till  within  a  few  years  a  Christian  was  certain  to  be  insulted,  or  even 
stoned,  by  them;  but  latterly  they  have  confined  their  hostility  to  the 
Jews,  the  sight  of  a  boy  of  this  race  being  a  signal  for  cursing  him  and 
his  whole  people,  from  his  father  backward!?.  The  Orientals  are,  indeed, 
mighty  in  cursing,  and  always  have  been.  They  will  curse  the  fathers 
and  mothers,  the  grandfather,  and  all  the  ancestors  of  anyone  with 
whom  they  have  a  dispute,  imprecating  all  kinds  of  evils  on  everyone 
related  to  the  object  of  their  rage.  We  can  see  the  same  custom  in 
diifereut  parts  of  the  Old  Testament — for  it  needed  Christ  to  teach  men 
love.  An  example  is  offered  in  David's  curse  on  Joab  for  the  murder 
of  Abner.  "Let  the  dead  man's  blood  rest  on  the  head  of  Joab,  and 
on  all  his  father's  house,  and  let  there  not  fail  from  the  house  of  Joab 
oud  that  hath  an  issue,  or  that  is  a  leper,  or  that  leaneth  on  a  staff,  or 
that  falleth  on  a  sword,  or  that  lacketh  bread."'  So,  too,  we  read  that 
Saul's  rmger  was  kindled  against  Jonathan,  and  he  said  unto  him, 
"Thou  b-ri  of  the  perverse,  rebellious  woman,'**  thus  cursing  his  son's 
mother — his  own  wife. 

The  great  Mosque  of  Abraham,  built  over  the  Cave  of  Machpelah, 
where  the  patriarchs  are  supposed  to  lie  buried,  is  on  the  eastern  edge 
of  the  town,  with  houses  of  all  sizes  close  around  it  on  every  side,  so 
that  you  come  upon  it  before  you  are  aware.     Except  a  few  royal  per- 

1  This  Is  a  corruption  of  Aln  Kashkaleh,  north  of  the  town.  2  Josh.  xv.  10 ;  Judg.  i.  15.   3  2  Sam. 
Ui.29.   4  1  Sam.  XX.  30. 


part 
of  tU 
floor, 
than 
the  d 
this 


XV.] 


HEBRON. 


209 


um, 
bon's 


pi  ah, 

jdge 

|e,  so 

per- 
\  Sam. 


sonages,  our  Prince  of  "Wales  and  his  sons  among  them,  no  one,  if  not 
a  Mahommedan,  has  in  modern  times  been  allowed  to  enter  it.  It  is 
enclosed  on  three  sides  by  an  outer  wall  of  Arab  construction.  The 
mosque  itself  is  a  quadrangle,  of  grey  stone,  197  feet  long  by  111  feet 
broad,  and  strengthened  at  intervals  by  buttresses,  the  masonry  of  the 
walls  showing,  throughout,  a  bevel  on  the  four  edges  of  each  stone,  as  in 
the  older  masonry  of  the  Haram  at  Jerusalem.  The  thickness,  apart  from 
the  buttresses,  is  no  less  than  eight  and  a  half  feet,  which,  again,  is 
just  the  same  as  that  of  the  Haram  walls  at  Jerusalem.  The  mosque  is 
built  on  a  hill,  so  that  the  paved  floor  of  the  inner  space  between  these 
ancient  walls  and  the  modern  Saracenic  walls  enclosing  them  is  about 
fifteen  feet  above  the  street,  while  the  height  of  the  ancient  wall,  with 
its  simple  projecting  cornice,  is  about  forty  feet ;  but  a  modern  wall, 
with  battlements,  is  built  on  the  top  of  the  original  one.  We  were 
led  to  the  eastern  side,  which  is  reached  by  ascending  a  filthy  lane,  and 
found  a  door — the  only  one  there  is — opening  into  the  court.  Through 
this  we  were  permitted  to  go  and  look  at  the  great  old  wall ;  but  we 
could  only  stand  inside  the  door;  to  go  down  to  the  area,  and  touch  the 
wall,  was  not  permitted.  Even  for  this  privilege,  moreover,  we  had  to 
pay  a  good  "bakshish." 

The  interior  of  the  mosque,  it  appears,  was  used,  at  leant  in  the  time 
of  the  Crusades,  as  a  Christian  church;  a  portion  at  the  south  end, 
seventy  feet  long,  being  divided  into  a  nave  and  two  aisles,  lighted  by 
windows  in  a  clerestory  raised  from  the  centre  of  the  roof  along  its 
whole  length.  The  roof  itself  was  groined,  and  nearly  flat,  with  a  lead 
covering  outside,  and  rested  within  on  four  great  pillars,  with  capitals 
set  off  with  thick  leaves,  in  the  mediaeval  style. 

The  only  known  entrances  to  the  Cave  of  Machpelah,  which  lies 
underneath  the  church,  are  unfortunately  covered  by  the  stone  floor, 
and  are  never  opened,  to  avoid  the  displacement  of  the  pavement,  which 
would  be  regarded  as  a  desecration  of  so  sacred  a  spot.  The  sheikh 
of  the  mosque,  however,  describes  the  cave  as  being  double,  w^iich 
agrees  with  its  name  Machpelah — "Division  m  Half" — and  also  with 
the  uniform  tradition  which  led  it,  in  the  Middle  Ages,  to  be  spoken  of 
as  "  the  Double  Cave." 

Of  the  spots  under  which  the  three  entrances  to  this  venerable  rest- 
ing-place of  the  patriarchs  are  said  to  be,  one  is  covered  with  stone 
slabs,  clamped  with  iron ;  the  second  simply  with  stone  flags,  forming 
part  of  the  floor  of  the  cliurcn  ;  while  the  third,  close  to  the  west  wall 
of  the  church,  is  a  shaft,  rising  slightly  above  the  level  of  the  church- 
floor,  and  covered,  like  a  well,  with  a  stone,  the  hole  in  which  is  more 
than  a  foot  across.  A  strong  light  having  been  let  down  through  it, 
the  door,  walls,  floor,  and  sides  of  the  chamber  beneath  eire  seen;  but 
this  is  not,  after  all,  either  of  the  two  caves,  but  a  roonc.  which  is  said 
18 


210 


THE   HOLY  LAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


(CH4P. 


to  len'3  to  the  western  cavern,  with  a  doorway  at  the  south-east  of  it, 
very  much  like  the  square  doorways  to  ancient  rock-cut  tombs  in  Pal- 
estine. Strange  to  say,  the  floor  is  tUickly  covered  with  written  pray- 
ers to  the  patriarchs,  tiirown  down  by  the  Mahommedans  through  1  'e 
well-1'.ke  shaft  in  the  church-floor.  From  these  and  other  details.  Cap- 
tain Conder,  after  personal  examination,  thinks  that  Machpelah  "pro- 
bably resembles  many  of  the  rock-cut  sepulchres  of  Palestine,  with  a 
square  ante-chamber  carefully  quarried,  and  two  interior  sepulchral 
cliambers,  to  which  access  has  been  made,  at  a  later  period,  through 
the  roofs."!  There  was,  no  doubt,  an  entrance,  in  Abraham's  time, 
from  the  "field  of  Mamre,  before  the  cave,"  but  this  has  long  ago  been 
blocked  up  by  buildings. 

The  space  outside  the  part  of  the  edifice  once  used  as  a  church,  and 
anciently  forming  the  courtyard,  is  now  filled  up  with  various  Arab 
structures  connected  with  the  mosque.  The  church  itself  was  outside 
the  anciciit  end  wall  of  the  sanctuary,  through  which  there  are  two 
openings,  to  permit  passing  from  the  church  to  the  inner  space.  In 
the  building  as  a  whole  there  are  six  monuments,  or  mock  tombs,  to 
the  illustrious  dead  who  are  assumed  to  be  below,  each  being  supposed 
to  lie  immediately  under  the  cenotaph  bearing  his  or  her 
name.  Those  of  Isaac  and  Kebekah  are  in  the  church  half, 
in  the  direction  of  the  nave,  so  that  they  are  not  placed  as 
Mahommedan  custom  requires,  for  ir  that  case  they  would  be  at 
right  angles  with  their  present  position ;  and  it  is  the  same  with  the 
cenotaphs  in  the  other  half  of  the  mosque.  The  monuments  to 
Isaac  and  Rebekah  are  enclosed  in  oblong  walls  with  gable  roofs,  rising 
about  twelve  feet  above  the  church-floor,  the  material  being  alternate 
bands  of  yellowish  and  reddish  limestone,  from  the  neighboring  hills. 
At  the  gable  ends  are  brass  crescents,  and  there  are  windows  in  the 
sides  and  roofs,  with  heavy  iron  bars,  thrmgh  which  the  imitation 
tombs  are  visible,  a  door  of  wood  ornamented  with  brass- work  giving 
access  to  each.  The  tombs  tliemselves  are  covered  with  richly- 
embroide  ed  silk  hangings — green  for  Isaac,  crimson  for  Hebekah — and 
have  cloths  hung  as  canopies  over  them,  while  manuscript  copies  of 
the  Koran  lie  open  around  on  low  wooden  rest.  The  same  colors 
mark  the  two  sexes  in  the  coverings  over  the  other  cenotaphs,  which 
are  more  or  less  like  these.  All  claim,  as  I  have  said,  to  be  spread 
over  the  spots  where  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  with  their  wives, 
Sarah,  Rebekah,  and  Leah,  rest.  The  walls  of  the  church  are  veneered 
with  marble  to  the  height  of  six  teet,  and  have  a  band  of  Arabic  writing 
running  along  above,  the  rest  of  the  wall  being  whitewashed,  as  are  the 
great  pillars,  and  the  piers  corresponding  to  them  in  the  end  walls.  The 
floor  is  cc   ^red  with  carpets  throughout. 

1  Pal.  Fund  Bcportt,  1882,  p.  200, 


XVJ 


HEBRON. 


211 


The  cenotaph  of  Abraham,  in  the  mosque  half  of  the  building,  is 
about  eiglit  feet  long,  eight  feet  high  and  four  feet  broad,  and  is  cov- 
ered with  green  and  white  silk,  embroidered  with  Arabic  texts  in  gold 
thread.  Two  green  banners  with  gold  lettering  lean  against  the  tomb, 
the  shrine  and  walls  round  which  are  pierced  with  open-barred  gates, 
said  to  be  of  iron  plated  with  silver;  an  inscription  on  one  bearing 
the  date  of  a.  d.  1259,  and  containing  an  invocation  to  Abraham. 
Silver  lamps  and  ostrich  egg-shells  hang  before  the  cenotaph,  and 
copies  of  the  Koran,  on  low  rests,  surround  it.  The  walls  of  the 
shrine  in  which  it  stands  are  cased  with  marble.  The  shrine  of 
Sarah  is  much  the  same,  with  open-barred  gates  and  a  domed  roof. 
Besides  the  cenotaphs  to  Jacob  and  Leah,  there  is  one,  outside  the 
inner  wall  to  Joseph,  with  a  passage  from  it  to  a  lower  one  to  tbe  same 
patriarch. 

The  fullest  account  of  Machpelah  as  it  was  in  past  ages  is  that  of 
Benjamin  of  Tudela,  by  whom  it  was  visited  in  or  about  the  year  1163, 
when  it  was  held  by  the  Christians.  He  speaks  of  it  as  "a  large  place 
of  worship,  called  St.  Abraham,"  and  adds  that  "  the  Gentiles  or  Chris- 
tians have  erected  six  sepulchres  in  this  place,  which  they  pretend  to  be 
those  of  Abraham  and  Sarah,  Isaac  and  Eebekah,  Jacob  and  Leah. 
The  pilgrims  are  told  that  they  are  the  sepulchres  of  the  fathers,  and 
money  is  extorted  from  them.  But  if  any  Jew  comes,  who  gives  an 
additional  fee  to  the  keeper  of  the  cave,  an  iron  door  is  opened  which 
dates  from  the  times  of  their  forefathers,  who  rest  in  peace,  and,  with 
a  burning  candle  in  his  hands,  the  visitor  descends  into  a  firet  cave, 
which  is  empty,  traverses  a  second  which  is  in  the  same  state,  and  at 
last  reaches  a  third  which  contains  six  sepulchres — those  of  Abraham, 
Isaac,  and  Jacob,  and  of  Sarah,  Rebekah,  and  Leah — one  opposite  the 
other." 

"All  these  sepulchres,"  the  writer  proceeds,  "bear  inscriptions,  the 
letters  being  engraved.  Thus,  upon  that  of  our  father  Abraham,  we 
read  (in  Hebrew),  '  This  is  thr  tomb  of  Abraham  our  father:  upon 
him  be  peace.'  A  lamp  burrs  in  the  cave  and  upon  the  sepulchres 
continually,  both  night  and  day,  and  you  the'  e  see  tubs,  filled  with  the 
bones  of  Israelites ;  for  to  this  day  it  is  a  custom  of  the  House  of 
Israel  to  bring  thither  the  bones  of  their  forefathers,  and  to  leave  them 
there."  Such  tubs,  or  arks,  of  bones,  bearing  rude  Hebrew  inscrip- 
tions, have  repeatedly  been  found  in  tombs  near  Jerusalem. 

The  stones  of  the  ancient  wall  of  tlie  mosque  are  marvellously  fin- 
ished and  fitted  to  their  places,  which  was  no  light  task,  since  one  of 
them  is  thirty-eight  feet  long  and  three  and  a  half  feet  high.  Every- 
where the  chiselHng  is  very  fine,  and  all,  as  I  have  said,  have  the  old 
Jewish  bevel  at  the  edges,  broad,  shallow,  and  beautifully  cut.  Of 
the  age  of  this  noble  piece  of  architecture,  various  opinions  have  been 


212 


THE   HOLY   LAND   ANU   THE   BIBLE. 


[CHAP. 


formed,  many  thinking  that  it  dates  from  before  the  captivity,  others 
that  it  was  built  by  Herod  the  Great.  It  certainly  existed  in  the  days 
of  Josephus,  for  he  speaks  of  its  being  "of  beautiful  marble  and 
admirably  worked,"  and  it  has  been  forcibly  said  that  if  it  had  been 
one  of  the  creations  of  Herod,  whose  magnificence  the  historian  so 
delighted  to  extol,  it  would  have  been  mentioned  as  one  of  his  works. 
Tradition  assigns  it  to  King  Solomon,  and  it  may  be  as  old  as  the  Jew- 
ish monarchy. 

The  entrance  to  the  mosque  is  by  a  flight  of  broad  steps,  which,  in 
m}'^  innocence,  I  approached,  without  thinking  of  the  fact  that  Chris- 
tians are  not  allowed  to  enter  the  sacred  building.  I  had  only 
got  up  two  or  three  steps,  however,  when  my  ambitious  career  was 
brought  to  a  stop,  and  I  had  to  content  myself  with  looking  at  a  hole 
in  the  wall  through  which  the  poor  Jews  are  permitted  to  thrust  pieces 
of  paper  on  which  their  names  are  written,  in  the  hope  that  Abraham 
may  see  them  and  intercede  in  their  behalf.  What  a  strange  thing  is 
human  faith ! 

But  are  the  bodies  of  the  patriarchs  really  at  Hebron?  St.  Stephen, 
in  his  defence,  tells  us  that  "Jacob  went  down  into  Egypt,  and  he  died, 
himself,  and  our  fathers;  and  they  were  carried  over  into  Sliechem, 
and  laid  in  the  tomb  that  Abraham  bought  for  a  price,  in  silver,  of 
the  sons  of  Hamor  in  Shechem."^  But  as  Genesis  tells  us  expressly 
that  the  burial-place  bought  by  Abraham  was  in  Hebron,  n3t  at 
Shechem,  and  also  that  Joseph  and  his  brethren  buried  Jacob  at  Heb- 
ron, in  the  "cave  of  the  field  of  Machpelah,"  it  is  clear  that,  in  the 
excitement  of  his  position  before  his  judges,  Stephen  had  confused  the 
buying  of  a  sepulchre  at  Shechem  by  Joseph,  and  the  burial  in  it  of 
Joseph  and  possibly  his  brethren,  with  the  provision  of  a  cave  tomb  at 
Hebron,  in  which  Joseph  afterwards  laid  his  father.^ 

It  is  striking  to  find  how  exactly  the  narrative  of  Abraham's  pur- 
chase of  the  grave  and  his  sorrow  at  Sarah's  death,*  is  in  keeping  with 
what  would  even  now  follow  two  such  incidents  in  ordinary  life.  The 
patriarch,  we  are  told,  "came  to  mourn"  for  his  dead  wife — that  is,  to 
hold  a  public  mourning — which,  in  the  case  of  "  the  princess"  of  such 
a  powerful  emir  as  her  husband,  would  even  now  be  a  great  event. 
He,  himself,  would  sit  for  a  time  in  his  tent  beside  the  corpse;  but  the 
climate  made  speedy  burial  necessary,  so  that  he  would  very  soon  have 
to  "stand  up  from  before  his  dead."  Tlie  mourning  women,  the  dirge 
music,  and  the  lamentations  general  in  the  demonstrative  East,  must 
have  engrossed  all  Hebron  for  the  time.  Even  for  one  in  a  much  hum- 
bler position  the  loud  weeping,  the  beating  of  the  breast,  the  cries,  and 
wailing  music  are  well-nigh  overpowering  ;  for  one  so  distinguished  as 
Sarah,  they  must  have  been  irresistibly  affecting. 
1  Acts  vii.  15, 16  (R.  v.).   2  Gen.  1. 13;  Josb.  xxiv.  82;  Qen.  xzxiii.  10.  8  Oen.  xxiii. 


XV.J 


HEBRON. 


213 


at 

ir- 
ith 
rhe 

to 
[ch 
Int. 
Ihe 
Ive 
I'ge 

ist 

Im- 

Ind 

as 


The  story  of  the  purchase  of  the  tomb  is  intensely  Oriental.  It  was 
of  the  utmost  moment  to  Abraham  that  no  dispute  should,  at  any  time, 
arise  as  to  the  right  of  property  in  the  tomb  where  his  wife  was  to  be 
laid,  and  where  he,  himself,  in  due  time  wa^  to  rest  by  lier  side.  He 
comes  before  the  sons  of  Heth,  therefore,  at  the  gate  of  the  town,^  and 
tells  them  that  he  is,  as  they  know,  only  a  stranger  and  a  sojourner 
with  them,  and  therefore  owns  no  ground  in  Hebron :  will  any  of  them 
sell  him  a  piece  suitable  for  the  grave  of  his  dead  wife,  and  others  of 
liis  family  afterwards? — for  it  was  usual  with  such  a  man  to  have  a 
hereditary  burial-place.^  A  number  of  the  townsmen  were,  as  usual, 
in  the  open  space  at  the  gate — the  great  gossiping  haunt  of  Eastern 
buyers  to-day ;  and  the  crowd  which  the  patriarch  gathered  round  were 
ready  to  entertain  his  proposal,  though,  with  true  Oriental  dexterity, 
prompt  to  veil  their  keenness  to  sell  under  an  air  of  courteous  liber- 
ality. "  He  was  '  a  chief  of  God  '  among  them  ;  the  choice  of  their 
sepulchres  was  at  his  disposal :  none  of  them  would  withhold  his  sep- 
ulchre from  him."  But  he  knew  too  well  what  all  this  meant.  He 
was  aware  that  it  was  only  a  flourish  preliminary  to  a  keen  bargain. 
He  had  already  fixed  his  heart  on  the  Cave  of  Machpelah,  and  so,  after 
bowing  grateful  acknowledgments  of  their  politeness,  he  begged  that 
if  they  would,  indeed,  be  so  good  as  to  help  him,  they  might  mediate 
between  him  and  Ephron,  the  son  of  Zohar,  for  the  purchase  of  Mach- 
pelah, which  lay  in  the  end  of  Ephron's  field.  Mediators  are  always 
employed  in  such  transactions,  even  at  the  present  day ;  indeed,  no  bar- 
gain can  be  made  without  all  the  crowd  around  having  something  to 
say  to  it.  Abraham  would  pay  full  value  for  the  property ;  let  them 
intercede  for  him — that  was  all  he  would  ask. 

Ephron,  who  ail  this  time  was  among  ^  the  good  folks  gathered  to 
this  colloquy,  and  who  were  seated,  like  himself,  cross-legged  on  the 
ground,  instantly  responded,  just  as  a  Hebron  man  in  a  similar  case 
would  to-day.  Sell  it  1 — that  be  far  from  him !  He  would  give  it  to 
the  great  stranger — yes,  he  would  give  it  1  In  the  same  way  the  Arab 
at  Gaza,  as  I  hr.ve  already  said,  gave  me  his  spear;*  and  so  Orientals, 
generally,  upon  meeting  you,  might  profess  to  give  you  their  house  and 
all  that  was  in  it ;  the  words  meaning  nothing  beyond  a  recognized 
form  of  politeness.  Ephron  had  three  times  in  a  breath  vowed  that  he 
would  give  Abraham  the  field,  calling  the  "  sons  of  his  people  "  to  wit- 
ness his  doing  so ;  but  the  patriarch  knew  what  the  gift  was  worth, 
and,  gravely  bowing  his  thanks,  went  on  with  his  proposals  to  buy  it. 
"If  thou  wilt  indeed  show  kindness  to  thy  servant,  I  will  give  thee 
money  for  the  field,  and  I  will  bury  my  dead  there."  This  brought 
Ephron  to  the  point,  and  forced  him  to  name  his  terms.  "  The  land 
is  worth  four  hundred  shekels  of  silver,  but  what  is  that  betwixt  me 

1  Gen.  xxiii.  10.  2  Wiuer,  i.  444.  8  Hebrew.  4  See  ante,  p.  26Q. 


214 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


[Chap. 


and  thee?"  Anyone  who  wishes  to  buy  a  piece  of  land,  or  a'-ything 
else,  in  Palestine  to-day,  will  hear  the  very  same  words.  But  Abra- 
ham was  a  shrewd  man  of  business ;  he  knew  what  all  these  generous 
professions  meant,  and  forthwith  closed  the  bargain  by  weighing  out 
the  silver  to  Ephron,  there  being  no  coins  as  yet,  although  there  were 
traders  as  keen  as  their  descendants  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Indeed, 
Abraham  would  have  needed,  even  in  our  time,  to  weigh  the  money, 
for  every  "  merchant "  carries  scales  with  him  to  guard  against  light 
weight,  coins  sometimes  being  "  sweated"  or  clipped  by  Jews. 

The  mere  pay  men',  of  the  money  was  not,  however,  enough.  Then, 
as  now,  a  formal  act  was  requisite,  by  which  all  the  details  of  the  pur- 
chase— "  the  field,  and  the  cave  which  was  therein,  and  all  the  trees 
that  were  in  the  field,  and  that  were  in  all  the  borders  round  about  " — 
^ere  recited  and  duly  acknowledged  by  Ephron.  In  Abraham's  time 
this  legal  completion  of  the  sale  apparently  consisted  in  a  recapitula- 
tion of  every  item  before  the  assembled  burghers  at  the  city  gate ;  no 
document  being  drawn  up.  But  in  our  day  every  particular  must  be 
duly  stated  in  a  written  deed,  as  prolix  and  minute  as  a  conveyance  by 
a  Western  lav/yer,  so  that  no  possible  loophole  be  left  for  a  future  eva- 
sion of  the  bargain. 

The  hills  round  Hebron,  one  of  the  few  towns  in  Palestine  that  lie 
in  a  hollow,  look  utterly  barren,  except  the  one  to  the  south,  which 
appears  covered  with  olives  as  one  looks  up  from  below.  But  when 
you  climb  to  the  top  of  the  hills  behind  the  city,  on  the  north-east,  the 
whole  valley  lies  at  your  feet,  with  the  hills  on  all  sides,  and  you  then 
receive  a  very  diflferent  impression.  Behind  the  town  the  slopes  are, 
indeed,  barren ;  but  towards  the  south  they  stretch  away  in  soft  out- 
lines, covered  with  olives,  till  they  fade  into  a  blue  mist  towards  the 
wilderness  of  Edon.  A  small  but  well-cultivated  valley  lies  behind, 
on  the  east,  dotted  thickly  with  olives.  The  hills  on  which  I  stood 
were  bare  for  the  most  part,  but  there  was  a  pretence  of  pasture  on 
Some  portions.  To  the  west  lay  the  long  valley  of  Hebron  and  the 
slopes  on  its  further  side,  covered  with  glorious  olive-woods  and  vine- 
yards, and  rich  olive-grounds  and  gardens  reached  away  to  the  south 
also.  On  the  north,  hills  rose  beyond  hills,  covered  with  vineyard 
above  vineyard,  on  countless  terraces,  the  loose  stones  carefully  built 
into  walls,  step  above  step,  to  oatch  all  the  soil  brought  down  by  the 
winter  storms ;  so  tliat  slopes  which  without  this  provision  would  have 
been  bare  sheets  of  rock,  were  transformed  by  it  into  rich  fertility. 

The  fame  . 3  valley  in  which  the  patriarchs  fed  their  flocks  in  ages 
long  gone  by,  and  in  which  they  now  rest  in  their  deep  sleep,  was  all 
before  me.^  The  city  at  my  feet  had  been  a  busy  hive  of  men  during 
a  period  dating  back  seven  years  before  Zoab-Tanis,  the  old  capital  of 

1  Gen.  xlii.  18;  xxUi.  2;  xxztU.  14. 


J 


XV.] 


HEBRON. 


215 


on 
Itlie 
ine- 
luth 
lard 

uilt 
Ithe 

ave 


the  Delta,  was  founded  in  Egypt,  in  the  grey  morning  of  the  world. 
For  seven  years  and  a  half  David,  the  Shepherd  King  and  the  Psalmic*. 
of  Israel,  oad  held  his  rude  court  before  the  very  gate  under  my  Lyea} 
The  pool  over  vvhioh  the  hands  and  feet  of  the  murderers  of  Ishbosheth 
had  been  nailed  up  fay  in  the  afternoon  sun.  It  seemed  as  if  one  could 
see  Joab  once  more  stalking  through  the  narrow  streets ;  as  if  one 
could  hear  the  wail  over  the  chieftain  Abner,  foully  murdered  by  him, 
perhaps  in  that  very  gateway.*  In  the  country  around  David  had  for 
years  led  an  unsettled  life,  at  the  head  of  a  band  of  men  made  up  of  all 
who  were  "in  distress,  or  debt,  or  who  were  discontented  "  *  — a  wand- 
ering Arab,  in  fact,  living  by  requisitions  on  the  wealthy,  in  return  for 
protecting  their  property  fVom  others  like  himself,  and  for  not  taking 
what  he  wanted  by  violence.*  An  outlaw,  he  had  lived  as  best  he 
could,  with  his  rough  followers,  in  the  woods  and  caves  a  few  miles 
cfT.^  The  hills  around  Hebron  are  still  covercid,  often  for  miles 
together,  with  scrub  of  all  kinds,  and  are  therefore  much  frequented  by 
charcoal-burners,  who  export  finom  this  region  most  of  the  charcoal 
used  in  Jerusalem.  Tiie  aefeat  of  Saul  at  Gilboa  was  the  beginning  of 
David's  rise.  Recognized  as  king  by  the  elders  of  Hebron,  after  he 
had  propitiated  them  by  gifts,  the  son  of  Jesse  came  hither  with  his 
braves  and  was  accepted  by  Judah  as  ruler.^  We  are  apt  to  forget 
his  long  residence  at  Hebron,  on  account  of  the  splendor  of  his  subse- 
quent reign  in  Jerusalem ;  but  his  contemporaries  regarded  the  town 
with  the  greatest  reverence  as  the  home  or  Abraham,  and  the  cradle 
of  David's  empire. 

Many  years  after  the  latter  had  been  joyfully  ^eted  in  it  as  king, 
the  streets  rang  with  rejoicing  over  the  accession  of  Absalom,  his 
treacherous  son,  who  here  raised  the  banner  of  revolt.  Idumaeans, 
Greeks,  Romans,  Saracens,  Crusaders,  and  Turks  had  since  then  ruled 
the  destinies  of  Hebron,  in  long  succession,  but  the  changeless  features 
of  the  landscape,  of  the  climate,  and  even  of  the  human  life  around 
me,  veiled  the  immense  gulf  between  long-vanished  ages  and  the  pres- 
ent, and  seemed  to  bring  up  again  before  my  eyes  the  moving  life  of 
tlie  distant  past. 

12Sam.  T.o.  2  2  Sam.  Hi.  27.  S  I  Sam.  xxtl.  2.  4  See  his  demand  from  Kabal of  CarmeWl  Sam. 
XXV.  5).   5  1  Sam.  xxli.  1-6 ;  xxiU.  IS.   6  1  Sam.  zxx.  26,  SI  { 2  Sam,  it.  1-4, 


ges 
all 

ing 
of 


216 


THE  HOLY   LAND   AND  THE  BIBLE. 


[Chap. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


THE  COUNTRY  SOUTH  OF  HEBRON. 


The  south  of  Palestine,  from  the  region  of  Hebron,  sinks  in  a  series 
of  gigantic  steps  to  the  wilderness  of  Et  Tih,  south  of  Beersheba.  In 
the  neighborhood  of  Juttah,  the  traditional  birth -place  of  St.  John  the 
Baptist,  the  landscape  falls  abruptly  to  a  broad  plateau,  divided  into 
two  by  the  great  wady  which  runs  from  the  north  of  Hebron  to  Beer- 
sheba, and  thence,  in  a  north-west  curve,  to  Gerar  and  the  sea,  ^.^.st 
below  Gaza,  after  a  total  course  of  about  sixty-five  English  mi^  js,  in 
which  it  descends  more  than  3,000  feet.  The  plateau  is  about  2,600 
feet  above  the  sea-level,  but  t  is  900  feet  lower  than  the  hills  imme- 
diately north  of  Hebron,  whicli  are  3,600  feet  above  the  Mediterranean. 
Juttah  itself,  on  the  edge  of  the  plateau,  is  about  2,800  feet  above  the 
sea,  so  that  in  five  or  six  miles  the  country  descends  700  feet,  and 
presently  sinks,  suddenly,  200  feet  more.  The  table-land  consists  of 
open  downs  and  arable  so^l,  of  sol't  white  chalk,  formed  since  the  hard 
limestone  of  the  Judaean  hills.  All  the  rain  that  falls  on  this  district 
forthwith  filters  through  the  surface  deposit — a  feature  which  causes 
an  entire  absence  of  springs;  and  hence  the  inhabitants,  once  numerous, 
but  now  verv  few,  have  always  depended  on  cemented  wells  and  tanks. 
The  water,  however,  need  not  be  lost,  if  there  were  but  skill  enough 
to  reach  it,  for  it  is  soon  stopped  in  its  filtration  downwards  by  the 
dense  limestone,  and  flows  over  it  as  a  subterranean  river  towards  the 
sea.  A  second  great  land-step,  farther  south,  brings  the  level  at  Beer- 
sheba to  a  little  under  800  feet  above  the  sea;  so  that  in  the  twenty 
miles  from  Hebron  to  Beersheba,  in  a  straight  line,  the  descent  is  nearly 
2,700  feet. 

There  are  only  two  inhabited  villages  on  the  Juttah  table-land ;  but 
ruins  on  all  sides  show  that  it  was  once  thickly  peopled,  as,  indeed,  is 
seen  from  the  same  evidence  a  great  part  of  the  way  to  Beersheba. 
There  are  no  trees,  and  in  summer  the  surface  is  dry  and  sunburnt; 
but  in  spring  the  rains  make  it  a  field  of  verdure  and  flowers,  and 
there  is  always  pasture,  in  one  part  or  another,  for  great  numbers  of 
flocks  and  herds.  Caves,  such  as  are  still  inhabited  in  some  parts, 
abound  in  the  countless  hills;  so  that  tiiis  would  seem  to  have  been 
part  of  the  country  once  inhabited  by  the  Horites,  or  "Cave-men." 
Indeed,  their  name  clings  to  the  locality  iu  the  designations  of  two 
ruined  towns.  This  is  the  region  known  in  the  Bible  as  the  Negeb, 
which  unfortunately  is  always  translated  "the  south,"  though  the 
Revised  Version  admits  the  compromise  of  a  capital  letter.  It  comes 
from  a  root  meaning  "to  be  dry,"  or  "dried  up,"  which  accurately 


11 


ZYI.] 


THE  COUNTRY  SOUTH  OF  HEBRON. 


217 


describes  its  appearance.  It  was  in  this  district  that  Caleb  gave  his 
daughter,  with  lier  dowry,  to  the  valiant  Othniel ;  *  and  it  has  an  abid- 
ing charm  as  the  scene  of  David's  wanderings. 

Juttah,  an  ancient  priestly  town,  is  held  by  the  Greek  Church  to  be 
the  birth-place  of  St.  John  the  Baptist,  as  has  been  said,  and  as  such 
it  is  the  goal  of  pilgrimage  to  thousands  of  Greek  Christians  each 
year.  Support  to  this  view  is  believed  to  be  found  in  the  words  ^^^  Si. 
Luke,  which,  in  our  version,  speak  of  the  Virgin  Mary  as  journej^ing 
"into  the  hill  country  with  haste,  to  a  city  of  Judah."'  This,  it  is 
held,  should  be  "  to  the  town  Judah,"  or  Juttah,  since  it  would  be 
vague  in  the  extreme  to  speak  merely  of  "a  city  of  Judah."  On  this 
ground,  so  great  authorities  as  Reland,  Robinson,  and  Riehm^  think 
this  place  was  actually  the  residence  of  Zacharias  and  Elizabeth,  and 
tlie  birth-place  of  the  Baptist.  It  is  a  large  stone  village,  standing 
high  on  a  ridge;  but  some  of  the  population  live  in  tents.  Under- 
ground cisterns  supply  water,  and  on  the  south  there  are  a  few  olive- 
trees,  but  the  hill  and  its  neighborhood  are  very  stony,  though  the 
vine  must  in  ancient  times  have  been  extensively  cultivated,  since 
rock-out  wine-presses  are  found  all  round  the  village.  There  are, 
besides,  some  rock-cut  tombs,  which  also  date  from  antiquity.  But, 
poor  though  the  country  looks  and  is,  the  population  are  veiy  rich  in 
flocks,  the  village  owning,  it  is  said,  no  fewer  than  7,000  sheep,  besides 
goats,  cows,  camels,  horses,  and  donkeys.  Its  sheikh,  indeed,  owned  a 
flock  of  260  sheep.  The  hills  everywhere  are  very  rugged  and  stony, 
consisting  of  hard  crystalline  limestone ;  but  the  valleys,  which  are 
numerous,  have  good  soil  in  them,  some  of  them  being  especially  fer- 
tile. The  vineyards  and  olive  plantations  on  the  west,  north,  and 
south  of  Hebron — for  the  east  side  of  the  town  has  none — appeared 
like  a  great  oasis  in  a  desert,  though  the  Negeb  is  very  far  from  being 
a  desert  as  things  are  judged  in  such  a  land  as  Palestine.  A  low  scrub 
covered  the  rising  ground  and  rounded  hill-tops,  except  on  the  eastern 
slopes,  whi  «h.  being  quite  cut  off  from  the  night  mists  from  the  west, 
are  bare  of  vegetation,  except  after  the  spring  rains.  The  valleys,  in 
spite  of  their  fertility,  are  narrow  and  itiore  or  less  stony,  with  steep 
slopes  and  occasional  cliffs,  some  of  them  breaking  down  very  suddenly 
from  the  watershed  to  a  depth,  in  a  few  cases,  of  over  500  feet. 

From  Juttah  it  is  a  very  short  distance  south-east — about  three 
miles — to  Carmel,  now  known  as  Kurmul,  famous  for  the  episode  in 
David's  history  of  his  dispute  with  the  rough  and  niggardly  Nabal, 
and  his  obtaining  Abigail,  the  poor  creature's  widow,  as  wife.  A 
great  basin  between  the  bills  stretches  from  the  north  of  Juttah  tff 
Carmel,  rich  with  fine  fields  of  wheat  over  its  undulating  surface,  and 
almost  free  from  rocks,  even  the  loose  stones  being  less  abundant  than 

IJosta.  XT.  16— 19.   2  Luke  i.  39.   8  SeIand,Pix{e«tfti«,  p.  870;  Robinson,  11.828;  Riehin,.Ai<(aA. 


218 


THE  HOLY  LAND  ASU  THE  filBLS. 


[Oba^. 


usual.     The  land  belongs  to  Qovernment,  and  is  rented  by  men  of 
Hebron. 

When  Dr.  Robinson  passed  over  it  the  grain  was  ri{)ening  for  the 
siokle,  and  watchmen  were  posted  at  intervals  to  nrotect  it  from  entile 
and  flocks.  His  Arabs,  he  tells  us,  "  were  an  hungred,"  and  freely 
"plucked  the  ears  of  corn,  and  did  eat,  rubbing  them  in  their  IuukIh,"' 
no  one  thinking  it  wrong,  but  an  ancient  custom,  which  even  the  own- 
ers of  the  fields  would  recognize.  The  Jews  who  challenged  tlie  dis- 
ciples could  hardly  have  done  so  simply  because  tiie  corn  had  been 
plucked,  even  though  it  was  the  Sabbath.  The  trouble  was  tliat  the 
offenders  had  rubbed  the  ears  in  their  hands,  which,  as  a  kind  of 
threshing,  was  doing  work  on  the  holy  day,  and  thus  a  violation  of 
law  which  these  bitter  Sabbatarians  could  nut  pass  by.  It  is  possible, 
however,  that  they  also  reckoned  the  plucking  of  the  ears  as  a  kind 
of  reaping. 

The  terror  of  tent  Arabs  is  so  universal  among  the  j.  easantry  of  the 
Holy  Land,  that  a  band  of  countrymen  who  passeo  by  thought  it 
unsafe,  for  fear  of  these  plunderers,  that  we  should  spe  id  the  night  at 
a  place  so  lonely  as  Carmel,  advising  us  to  go  on  to  Ma  >n,  where  there 
are  sheepfolds  among  the  ruins  of  that  old  city,  and  consequently 
shepherds,  whose  presence  would  secure  safety.  The  land  round  Car- 
mel was,  in  David's  time,  partly  the  property  of  Nabal ;  but  there  was 
even  then  a  village  of  the  name,  as,  indeed,  there  had  been  in  the  days 
of  Joshua.^  At  present  the  ruins  are  those  of  an  important  town, 
including  remains  of  a  castle  and  two  churches;  and  there  is,  besides, 
a  fine  reservoir,  well  built,  lying  below  the  ancient  site,  and  measuring 
no  less  than  117  feet  in  length  by  seventy-four  feet  in  width ;  a  spring, 
which  runs  from  a  cave  in  an  underground  rock-cut  channel,  still  serv- 
ing to  fill  it.  The  ruins  mark  the  splendor  of  the  short-lived  Christian 
kingdom  in  Palestine,  for  they  are  all  examples  of  the  magnificent 
architecture  of  the  Crusaders.  How  old  the  reservoir  may  be  is 
unknown,  but  it  was  already  in  existence  more  than  700  years  ago. 
The  walls  of  the  old  Crusadfing  fortress,  seven  feet  thick,  are  still,  in 
parts,  twenty-four  feet  high,  but  thev  have  to  a  large  extent  been 
carried  off  for  building  material.  Mailed  warriors  once  clambered  the 
ruined  stair  still  seen  in  the  thickness  of  the  north  wall,  and  watched 
the  Saracen  from  the  fiat  roof,  or  sped  arrows  at  his  horsemen  through 
the  loopholes.  Courts,  towers,  revetments,  outside  walls,  ditches,  and 
much  else,  were  once  the  busy  care  of  a  strong  Christian  garrison,  but 
for  centuries  have  lain  in  ruins.  Of  the  two  churches,  the  one  is  about 
ejghty  feet  long  and  forty  broad,  with  carved  pillars  and  sculptured 
medallions  still  to  be  seen.  The  other  is  not  qrite  so  long,  but  as 
broad. 
1  Matt.  xli.  1 :  Mark  ii,  28 ;  Luke  tL  L  2  Josh.  ZT.  V. 


xvt.i 


THK  COUNTHY  SOUTH  OV  MEBROK. 


219 


As  Iftto  as  300  yciirs  after  CliriHt,  a  Roman  garrison  kept  watch  anil 
ward  in  Carmel  against  the  Arabs  from  tlio  south  and  east;  but  tiio 
city  doubtless  fell  into  decay  long  before  the  arrival  of  the  Crusadels, 
of  whom  King  Anialrich  had  here  liis  head-([uarters.  The  ruins  of 
the  town  lie  round  the  top  and  alon^  the  two  sides  of  a  pleasant  and 
rather  deep  valley,  the  heatl  of  which  is  shut  in  by  a  half-circle  of  bare 
rocky  hills.  Foundations  and  broken  walls  of  dwellings  lie  scattered 
in  dreary  confusion  and  desolation,  for,  as  I  have  otten  said,  under  the 
Tur!c  the  country  has  become  almost  depopulated. 

It  was  here  that  Saul  set  up  the  trophy  of  his  victory  over  the 
Amalekites,  and  that  the  sheep-shearing  feast  of  Nabal  was  held  which 
led  the  poor  ohurlish  man  to  so  disastrous  an  end.^  David  and  his 
men,  like  many  tribes  of  tent  Arabs  now,  depended  largely  for  their 
support,  us  we  have  seen,  on  contributions  from  the  population  in  their 
neigliborhood;  and  having  associated  in  the  wilderness  pastures  with 
the  herdsmen  and  shepherds  of  Nabal,  protecting  them  from  the  plun- 
derers aroutjd  and  doing  other  good  offices  for  them,  they  naturally 
expected,  according  to  Arab  usage,  a  liberal  recognition  of  their  ser- 
vices. Nabal,  however,  had  :  small  soul.  To  pay  black-mail  either 
for  volunteered  protection  of  his  flocks,  or  as  a  reward  for  the  defenders 
having  abstained  from  helping  themselves  at  his  expense,  was  a  sore 
trouble  to  him,  though  he  had  8,000  sheep  and  1,000  goats.  But  it 
was  a  rough  state  of  things  that  allowed  David,  in  revenge  for  such 
meanness,  to  order  his  400  men  to  gird  on  their  swords  and  kill,  with- 
out mercy,  bv  a  sudden  night  attack,  every  creature  that  "pertained  to 
Nabal." 2  Sheep-shearing  is  always  marked  by  a  rude  feast  to  the 
shearers;  and  Nabal  himself  held  a  banquet  like  that  of  a  king,^  so 
that  he  might  well  have  been  more  generous.  But  David's  threatened 
revenge  is  that  of  a  wild  sheikh  of  the  desert,  and  shows  that  the 
Hebrews  must  in  some  respects  have  been  little  better  than  Bedouins, 
in  those  ages.  It  was  well  that  Abigail,  a  lady  of  this  very  place, 
Carmel,  had  read^  wit  and  gracious  softness,  else  David  would  have 
committed  a  terrible  crime.  Maon,  where  Nabal's  houSe  stood,  is  a 
conical  hill,  about  a  mile  south  of  Carmel,  which  lies  lower,  though 
still  2,700  feet  above  the  sea.  From  the  hill-top  you  look  down 
towards  the  Dead  Sea,  on  the  north;  Hebron  is  seen  in  its  valley,  and, 
on  the  west,  the  ancient  Debir,  the  city  of  Caleb.  Nine  places  still 
bearing  their  ancient  names  are  in  sight — Maon,  Carmel,  Ziph,  Juttah, 
Jattir,  Socoh,  Anab,  Eshtemoa,  and  Hebron — so  close  together  lie  the 
localities  mentioned  in  Bible  history.  Only  some  small  foundations 
of  hewn  stone,  a  square  enclosure,  and  several  cisterns  are  now  to  be 
seen  at  Maon:  are  they  the  remains  of  Nabal's  grent  establishment? 

Ijcss  than  three  miles  west  lies  Eshtemoa,  now  uulled  Semua,  one  of 

1  1  Sam.  XT.  12;  xxv.  2.   2  1  Sam.  xxv.  2—88.  3  1  Sam.  xxv.  86. 


220 


TBE  HOLY  LAND  AKD  TfiES  BiBLtt. 


tOttir. 


the  hill-towns  of  Judah,  allotted,  with  the  land  round  it,  to  the  priests,^ 
and  fre(^uented  by  David  in  the  dark  years  of  his  fugitive  wilderness 
life,  during  which  it  was  so  friendly  to  him  that  he  sent  gifts  to  his 
elders  after  his  victory  over  the  Amaleisites.^  It  is  seven  miles  from 
Hebron,  and  is  a  considerable  village,  built  on  a  low  hill,  among  broad 
stony  valleys  almost  unfit  for  tillage,  but  yielding  tufts  of  grass  and 
plants,  on  which  sheep  and  goats  thrive  in  Palestine.  Some  olive-trees 
are  growing  south  of  the  village,  and  old  stones,  very  large,  and 
bevelled  at  the  edges,  in  the  old  Jewish  style,  some  of  them  ten  feet 
long,  occur  as  the  remai/js  of  ancient  walls.  There  are  alao  some 
ruins  of  a  mediaeval  castle,  but  it  has  lain  for  centuries  a  ruin  amidst 
ruins.  Seven  miles  straight  south,  and  we  are  at  the  limit  of  Palestine, 
the  hills  forming  the  boundry  trending  northwards,  after  passing 
Beersheba,  and  thus  leaving  so  much  less  distance  between  Hebron 
and  the  border.  It  may  here  be  pointed  out  how  small  a  country 
Palestine  is,  for  it  is  only  about  thirty-three  miles  in  a  straight  line 
from  Jerusalem  to  Tell  Arad,  a  solitary  hill  facing  the  desert ;  the  seat 
in  Joshua's  time  of  a  petty  Canaanite  chief.'  From  Hebron,  it  is 
less  than  seventeen  English  miles  off,  and  yet  David  never  seems  to 
have  wandered  so  far  south,  for  Ziklag,  which  was  given  to  him  by 
the  Philistine  king,  Achish,  lies  on  a  line  further  north,  on  the  upper 
side  of  the  Wady  es  Sheria,  elrven  English  miles  east-south-east  from 
Qaza,an«l  nineteen  south-west  from  Beit  Jibrin.  The  name  Zuheilika, 
recovered  there  by  Conder  and  Kitchener  in  1875,  fixes  the  site  of 
Ziklag  on  one  of  tnree  low  hills  from  which  David  was  to  keep  watch 
for  his  Philistine  patron  against  the  Bedouir.  hords  of  the  desert.* 
Beersheba  lay  fifteen  miles  to  the  south-east,  and  yet  from  it  to  Dan, 
the  northern  boundry  of  Palestine,  is  only  131)  miles ;  and  the  paltry 
breadth  of  twenty  miles,  from  the  coast  to  the  Jordan  on  the  north, 
increases  slowly  to  only  forty  between  the  Mediterranean  and  the 
Dead  Sea  at  Gaza  on  tne  south.  Palestine,  in  fact,  is  only  about  the 
size  of  Wales. 

So  small  is*  the  country  which  was  honored  by  God  to  be  the  scene 
of  Divine  Bevektion.  But  it  has  special  characteristics,  which  emi- 
nently fitted  it  for  such  a  dignity.  Apart  from  the  religious  peculiari- 
ties  of  the  Shemitic  race — their  love  of  simple,  untroubled  faith,  as 
opposed  to  the  restless  speculation  of  the  Aryan  races — the  position 
of  the  Holy  Land,  in  the  centre  of  the  ancient  world,  was  exactly 
!9Uited  to  the  dissemination  of  the  great  doctrines  of  the  true  faith 
among  mankind.  Its  isolation  from  heathen  countries  was,  however, 
not  less  marked,  for  the  sea  bounded  it  on  the  one  side,  and  tlie  desert 
on  the  south  and  east,  while  on  the  north  access  to  it  could  only  be 
had  through  the  long  valley  of  Lebanon.    No  land,  therefore,  could 

1  Itoth.  xxl  14;  1  Chron.  vi.  67.   2  1  P«in.  xx\.  28.   8  Josh.  zll.  14.    4  ICiehin,  1837. 


XVIJ 


Ttttt  COtJNTftY  SOUTfl  Of  flKBftOl^. 


221 


le 
le 


[i: 


have  Ibeen  better  fitted  to  protect  Revelation  from  the  contamination 
of  other  creeds,  or  from  the  infl  *cace  of  foreign  manners — then,  of 
course,  idolatrous.  Yet  the  physical  configuration  of  the  country  was 
such  as  to  save  its  people  from  the  narrow  experience  of  dwellers  in  a 
land  where  there  is  less  variety  of  landscape.  On  the  north,  the 
snows  of  Lebanon  presented  thu  scenery  of  regions  where  winter 
triumphs,  and  brougnt  before  the  Hebrews  the  plants,  the  trees,  the 
animals,  and  other  natural  phenomena  familiar  to  cold  climates.  In 
the  Jordan  valley,  on  the  other  hand,  though  still  within  sight  of 
snowy  peaks,  they  had  around  them  the  plants,  the  birds,  the  animals, 
the  scenery,  and  the  distinctive  features  of  an  Indian  province ;  while 
in  the  central  hill-country  thty  had  every  gradation  between  these 
great  extremes.  Hence  the  Bible,  written  in  a  country  presenting 
within  its  narrow  limits  the  main  features  of  lands  widely  separated, 
is  a  book  of  the  world,  notwithstanding  its  Oriental  color.  Its 
imagery  and  its  wealth  of  spiritual  experience  adapt  it  to  every  region 
of  the  earth,  and  secure  it  a  welcome  wherever  man  is  found,  making 
it  not  only  intelligible,  but  ricti  in  a  varied  interest. 

The  "south  country,"  or  Negeb,  of  which  Eshtemoa  may  be 
regarded  as  the  centre,  was  the  favonte  pasture-land  of  the  patriarchs. 
Over  these  stony  hills  the  flocks  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  tJacob  must 
often  have  wandered,  for  they  had  to  go  far  afield  at  times,  when  the 
drought  withered  the  herbage  of  the  early  months.  Indeed,  we  find 
the  sheep  and  goats  of  Jacob  as  far  north  as  Dothan,  close  to  the  plain 
of  Esdraelon,  about  ninety  miles  in  a  straight  line  from  Beersheba, 
where  his  tents  were  pitched ;  and  of  course  the  journey,  in  such  a 
tangle  of  hills,  must  have  been  far  longer  by  the  winding  routes. 
Abraham  seems  to  have  lived  by  turns  at  Beersheba  and  Hebron ; 
Isaac  at  Gerar,  Lahai-roi,  and  Beersheba ;  ^  Jacob  mainly  at  Beersheba^ 
though  his  early  and  later  lift'  were  both  spent  in  foreign  countries. 
Lahai-roi  seems,  however,  if  the  proposed  identification  be  correct,  to 
have  been  a  wonderful  distance  for  so  sedentary  a  man  as  Isaac  to 
travel.  It  appears  to  have  kin  on  the  caravan-road  from  Beersheba 
to  Egypt,  ten  hours  south  of  Ruheibeh,  the  ancient  Rehoboth — "  the 
Open  Place  " — a  spring  about  twenty  miles  «?outh-west  of  Beersheba, 
mentioned  by  Moses,  and  recorded  in  the  Nineveh  inscriptions  as  the 
frontier  town  of  the  Assyrian  Empire  towards  Egypt*  — a  very 
striking  "  undesigned  coincidence,"  indeed,  betVeen  Scripture  and  the 
tablets  of  Nineveh!  There  are,  even  now,  wells  at  Lahai-roi  known 
as  Hagar's  Springs,  and  the  wady  in  which  they  occur  is  famous  for 
its  abundance  of  water  wherever  wells  have  been  sunk  for  it.  The 
supply  over  all  this  region,  and,  indeed,  in  the  hilly  Negeb  also,  has 
always  to  be  obtained  by  tapping  the  subterranean  river  of  which  I 

1  Q«n.  XiU.  18;  XXi,  S3;  xxlv.  62;  xxv.  1.1 ;  xxvl.  1. 8S.  t  ICahlau  Mid  VoUck,  p.  783. 


222 


THE  HOLT  LAKD  AND  THE  BIBLfi. 


tCiUV 


have  so  often  spoken  as  extending  under  a  great  breadth  of  country 
Isaac  was  famous  in  this  way,  and  perhaps  some  of  the  wells  still 
used  were  originallj'^  dug  and  cased  with  masonry  by  his  slaves.  Nor 
will  anyone  who  looks  at  those  still  found  in  these  districts  think 
lightly  of  the  labor  involved  in  constructing  them,  or  wondev  that 
even  so  great  a  man  as  Uzziah  was  remembered  for  the  number  he  dug,* 
I  have  often  asked  myself  whether  some  of  these  filled  up  at  Gerar 
might  have  been  among  the  number  stopped  by  the  Philistine  herds- 
men after  Abraham  and  Isaac,  with  great  toil,  had  opened  them .^  It 
is  quite  possible  for  the  destruction  of  wells  has  in  all  ages  been  a 
barbarous  custom  in  Eastern  quarrels,  though  it,  in  effect,  reduces  a 
fertile  district  to  a  wilderness. 

The  thirsty  Negebj  and  still  more  tho  sandy  region  south  and  east 
of  Palestine,  are  often  mocked  by  that  strange  phenomenon  of  hot  and 
desert  regions,  the  n  irage.  We  meet  it  also  on  the  coast-plains,  and 
in  the  Haur&n,  and  always  with  the  same  curious  imitation  of  ni^*ural 
objects,  and  the  same  illasory  appearance  of  water,  though  the  whole 
is  only  the  reflection  of  rays  of  light  on  particles  of  floating  vapor. 
Every  tuft  is  exaggerated  into  a  tree,  and  the  blades  of  grass,  shooting 
up  here  and  there,  become  a  jungle.  You  even  see  them  reversed,  in 
wnat  seems  a  wide  lake,  along  whose  shores  they  rise.  The  best 
description  of  the  mirage  that  I  know  is  that  by  Major  Skinner,  in  his 
"Journey  Overland  to  India."  He  was  travelling  across  the  desert 
between  Palestine  and  the  Euphrates,  and  tells  us  that — "About  noon 
the  most  perfect  deception  that  can  be  conceived  exhilarated  our  spiriis, 
and  promised  an  early  resting-place.  We  had  observed  a  slight  mirage 
two  or  three  times  before,  but  this  day  it  surpassed  all  I  had  even 
fancied.  Although  aware  that  these  appearances  have  often  ^ed  people 
astray,  I  could  not  bring  myself  to  believe  that  this  was  unreal.  The 
Aral«  were  doubtful,  and  said  that  as  we  had  found  water  yesterday,  it 
was  not  improbable  we  should  find  some  to-day.  The  seeming  lake 
was  broken  in  several  parts  by  little  islands  of  sand,  which  gave 
strength  to  the  delusion.  The  dromedaries  of  the  sheikhs  at  length 
reached  its  borders,  and  appeared  to  us  to  have  commenced  to  ford,  as 
they  advanced  and  became  more  surrounded  by  the  vapor.  I  thought 
they  had  got  into  deep  water,  and  moved  with  greater  caution.    In 

gassing  over  the  sand-banks  their  figures  were  reflected  in  the  water. 
o  convinced  was  Mr,  Calmun  of  its  reality,  that  he  dismounted  and 
walked  towards  the  deepest  part  of  it,  which  was  on  the  right  band. 
Hp  followed  the  deceitful  lake  for  a  long  time,  and  to  our  sight  was 
strolling  on  its  bank,  his  shadow  stretching  to  a  great  length  beyond. 
There  was  not  a  breath  of  wind;  it  was  a  sultry  day,  and  such  a  one 
as  would  have  added  dreadfully  to  the  disappointment  if  we  had  been 
laCbnm.xxTi.  10.  30en.sxTL17fl. 


XVI.1 


THE  COUNTRY  SOUTH  OP  HEBRON. 


223 


at  any  time  witli^ut  water."  The  Arab  word  for  the  mirage  is  sgrab, 
and  this  we  find  once  in  the  Bible  in  the  Hebrew  form,  sarab.  It  is 
used  by  Isaiah  when  he  says  that  "the  parched  ground  shall  become  a 
pool,  and  the  thirsty  land  springs  of  water,"  ^  before  the  Tribes  ransomed 
from  Babylon,  and  returning  across  the  desert  to  Palestine.  The 
correct  rendering,  however,  is,  "the  miraye  shall  become  a  pool" — the 
mock  lake  in  the  burning  waste,  so  often  the  despair  of  the  wanderer, 
shall  become  a  real  lake,  the  pledge  of  refreshment  and  joy.'' 

The  story  of  David's  wanderings  presents  itself  with  wonderful 
vividness  as  we  journey  from  point  to  point  over  the  great  upland 
plateau  of  the  Negeb.  We  have  seen  him  in  the  caves,  high  up  the 
low  slope  of  the  brown  rounded  Hill  of  Adullam,  at  the  head  of  the 
broad  flat  corn-valley  of  Elah,  and  have  followed  him  to  Keilah  on  its 
steep  hill,  a  few  miles  to  the  south,  but  still  looking  down  into  the  same 
wide  glen.  "The  Forest  of  Hareth,"  as  we  have  noticed,  was  near  at 
hand,  supplying,  in  its  dense  "yaar"  of  scrubby  contorted  trees,  a  secure 
hiding-place  for  the  time,  on  the  edge  of  the  heights  overlooking  the 
Shephelah.  But  at  last  he  had  to  flee  from  each  of  these  retreats  and 
betake  himself  still  further  south,  to  the  country  round  Ziph,  a  small 
town  lying  on  a  hill  which  rises  about  a  hundred  feet  above  the  others 
that  surround  it.  It  is  only  about  five  miles,  almost  due  south  from 
Hebron,  but  in  such  a  tangle  of  hills  and  glens  that  even  so  short  a 
distance  would  have  secured  effective  concealment  had  the  people  been 
loyal.  David  must  often  have  looked  out  from  the  top  of  the  hill, 
whi^h  offers  a  clear  survey  of  the  wide  plains  running  out  from  below 
the  town — then  very  fruitful,  but  now  lying  waste,  with  no  man  to  till 
them,  for  Ziph  is  an  uninhabited  heap.  To  the  east  he  must  many 
times  have  looked  over  Jeshimon — "the  Wilderness" — as  the  bare 
hills  which  stretch  away  in  hideous  nakedness,  sinking  in  huge  sun- 
smitten  steps  towards  the  Dead  Sea,  were  then  called — a  region  of  wild, 
irreclaimable  desolation,  seamed  with  countless  ravines,  frequently  so 
narrow  and  precipitous  that  the  sun  shines  into  them  only  for  a  very  snort 
time  in  the  longest  and  brightest  day — profound  clefts,  so  dark  that 
the  Heb  'ews  spoke  of  one  and  another  as  "  the  Valley  of  the  Shadow 
of  Death  " — that  is,  dark  as  the  subterranean  regions  of  the  dead — 
David  himself  using  their  dispiriting  and  teriifj'ing  gloom  as  an  image 
of  the  direst  affliction.*  Ziph  must  have  been  at  one  time  a  consider- 
able town,  j.idging  from  the  ruins  that  now  lie  on  a  low  ridge  to  the 
east  of  the  Tail;  but  David  would  find  himself  safer  on  the  hills  around, 
which  are  even  now  covered  with  stunted  growth  of  all  kinds,  and 
were  then,  apparently,  still  better  veiled  by  underwood,  though  no  i,iees, 
in  our  sense,  could  ever  have  flourished  in  this  sun-scorched  and  water- 
less regioni     Here  the  famous  meeting  betwixt  the  shepherd-hero  and 


224 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


(cauv. 


Jonathan  took  place,^  when  the  two  made  a  covenant  of  friendship, 
faithfVilly  kept  Wore  Jehovah;  Jonathan  strengthening  his  friend's 
"hand  in  God." 

In  our  English  Bible  we  are  told  that  David  "abode  in  the  wood," 
using  its  "strongholds"  as  hiding-places;^  and  no  doubt  he  did  so  for  a 
time;  but  the  discovery  by  Captain  Conder  of  a  site  known,  even  now, 
as  Khoreisa,  little  more  tlian  a  mile  to  the  south  of  Ziph,  makes  it 
probable  that  we  should  understand  Khoresh,  the  worn  translated 
"wood,"  rather  as  the  name  of  a  village  among  the  brush -covered  hills, 
than  as  meaning  the  "yaar"  round  Ziph.  The  treachery  of  the  Ziph- 
ites  drove  the  fugitive  ere  long  from  their  neighborhood,  to  seek  refuge 
in  the  lonely  and  forbidding  solitudes  of  the  Jeshimon,  to  the  east  of 
their  town.  Every  part  of  this  appalling  wilderness  would  be  familiar 
to  the  shepherd  of  Bethlehem,  whose  flocks  must  have  strayed  from 
time  to  time  down  many  of  its  ravines,  when  the  spring  rains  had 
brightened  them  for  a  few  weeks  with  passing  flowers  and  thinly- 
sprinkled  herbs  and  grass.  Every  cave  in  it  would  be  known  to  him, 
for  he  must  often  have  used  them  as  a  fold  for  his  sheep  or  goats  when 
beli.ted  in  these  wilds,  so  dangerous  from  wild  beasts  and  still  wilder 
men.  From  Khoresh,  or  Ziph,  he  doubtless  often  looked  down  the 
rough  sea  of  white  peaks  and  cones,  seamed  with  countless  torrent- 
beds,  and  worn  into  deep  caverns  by  the  rains  of  a  thousand  centuries; 
and  his  eye  must  have  frequently  rested  on  the  high  pointed  cliflF  of 
Ziz,  over  Engedi,  "the  Fountain  of  the  Kid,"  where  precipices  2,000 
feet  high  overhang  the  Dead  Sea,  which  was  about  fifteen  miles  from 
v/here  he  then  stood,  though  in  the  clear  air  of  Palestine  appearing  to 
be  much  nearer.  If  forced  to  do  so,  he  could  find  a  hiding-place  in 
some  cave  on  the  steep  face  of  these  great  crags,  among  the  wild  goats, 
which  alone  seemed  fit  for  siich  places.  The  blue  waters  of  "the  Sea" 
o^leamed  as  if  at  his  feet  as  he  looked  down  Jeshimon,  and  beyond  it 
the  yellow-pink  hills  of  Moab,  torn  into  deep  furrows  by  the  winter 
torrents,  would  seem,  with  their  level  tops,  like  a  friendly  table-land, 
to  which  lie  migh';  make  his  escape,  if  even  the  towering  rock- wall 
of  Engedi  could  not  protect  him. 

First,  however,  he  fled  to  a  solitary  hill  close  at  hand,  Hachilah, 
apparently  one  of  the  peaks  of  the  ridge  El-Kolah,  about  six  miles 
east  of  Ziph.  But  he  was  still  pursued,  like  the  partridge  which  the 
fowler  chases,  from  spot  to  spot,  over  these  bills.  On  the  north  side 
of  Kolah — not  very  different  in  sound  from  "  Ha-kilah  " — is  a  cave, 
known  still  as  that  of  "  the  Dreamers,"  perhaps  the  very  scene  of 
David's  venture  into  the  camp  of  Saul,  when  he  took  away  the  king's 
spear,  stuck  upright  in  the  ground  at  his  head  while  he  slept,  as  that 
of  the  Arab  sheikh  is  now,  and  the  cruse  of  water  which  stood  at  its 
U8ftm.xxm,;«.  21  Sam.  joau.w,  18,19, 


XVI.1 


THE  COUNTRY  SOUTH  OF  HEBRON. 


226 


i 


It 

ir 
11 


e 


side,  as  also  is  still  the  Arab  custom.^  Even  here,  however,  the  hated 
one  was  not  safe.  A  hiding-place  farther  within  the  wilderness  was 
needed.  This  time  his  refuge  was  in  a  ridge  known  as  Hammahle- 
koth,2  perhaps  the  same  as  that  now  known  as  Malaky,  which  forms 
the  precipitous  edge  of  a  wady  running  east  and  west  about  a  mile 
south  of  Kolah.*  All  Jeshimon  is  more  or  less  cleft  with  deep  per- 
pendicular chasms,  only  a  few  yards  across,  but  often  a  hundred  feet 
deep,  making  a  circuit  of  miles  necessary  to  pass  from  the  one  side  to 
the  other.  There  is,  apparently,  however,  no  other  spot  in  what  the 
Bible  calls  the  wilderness  of  Maon — the  wilderness  near  that  place — 
except  Malaky,  where  such  opposing  cliflfs  occur;  and  that  there  were 
such  precipices  at  Hammahlekoth  is  shown  by  the  use  of  the  Hebrew 
word  Selah  in  speaking  of  it.  It  may  well  be,  therefore,  that  this  was 
the  scene  of  the  memorable  interview  between  Saul  and  David,  when 
the  two  stood  on  "the  top  of  the  mountain,  afar  off,  a  great  space  being 
between  them,"*  that  is,  the  yawning  chasm  which  Saul  could  not 
have  crossed  to  get  at  his  enemy,  had  he  wished.  Or  it  may  be  the 
scene  of  David's  escape  when  the  Philistine  invasion  saved  him  for  the 
time,  and  when  "  Saul  went  on  this  side  of  the  mountain,"  cleft  in  two, 
as  it  was,  by  the  i  ipassable  gulf,  "and  David  and  his  men  on  that 
side  of  the  mountain."  * 

Not  far  from  Hebron  stood,  in  ancient  days,  the  town  Debir,  which 
has  been  identified,  by  some,  with  the  village  of  Dhaheriyeh,  by  others 
with  El-Dilbeh — the  former  about  twelve  miles,  th^  latter  a  little  over 
four  miles,  south-west  of  Hebron.^  The  ancient  Debir  was  first  con- 
quered by  Joshua,  but  having  passed  again  from  the  hands  of  Israel, 
was  retaken  by  Othniel,  a  young  hero  fighting  under  Caleb,  who,  as 
we  have  seen,'  gave  him  his  daughter  Achsah  in  marriage,  as  the 
reward  of  his  valor.®  The  young  bride's  cleverness  in  obtaining  from 
her  father,  for  dowry,  a  valley  in  which  there  were  springs,  known  as 
the  Upper  and  Lower,,  is  delightfully  told  in  Judges.  As  she  was 
being  brought  home,  she  urged  her  husband  to  ask  her  father  for  a 
field ;  but  it  appears  as  if  he  lacked  the  courage  to  do  so,  or  perhaps 
his  bride  seemed  dowry  enough  in  herself.  She,  however,  was  not  to 
be  balked  of  a  good  beginning  in  married  life.  Caleb  could  afford  her 
a  handsome  gift,  and  she  would  have  it.  Besides,  did  not  so  fine  a 
fellow  as  Othniel  deserve  it  ?  So,  as  the  cavalcade  rode  slowly  on  to 
Othniel's  home,  Achsah  dropped  behind  till  she  was  alongside  her 
father,  then,  alighting  suddenly  from  her  ass — for  like  everyone,  even 
now,  in  Palestine,  she  had  an  ass  for  her  steed: — and  laying  hold  of  the 
grey  veteran  with  soft  embrace,  and  winning  looks,  she  conquered  him 
on  the  spot.     "What  wilt  thou?"  was  all  lie  could  stammer  out. 

1  1  Sam.  xxvl.  12.    2  1  Sam.  xxiii.  28.     3  Tetd  Work  in  PvOestine.    4  1  Sam.  xxvi.  13  (B.  V.}. 
6  1  Sam.  xxiii.  26  (R.  V.).    6  First,  Knobel,  Coader;  second,  Vau  der  Velde.    7  See  ante,  p.  ~ 
8  JoBh.  X.  38;  xi.  21;  xli.  13;  xv.  16;  Judg.  I.  U. 

16 


I 


226 


THE   HOLY   LAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


[Chap. 


"  What  do  X  wish?"  said  she;  "why,  father,  tliou  hast  given  me  for 
dowry  a  dry,  burnt-up  tract  of  ground;  pray  give  me  also  a  piece  with 
springs  of  water,  for  what  is  land  without  flowing  springs  in  a  country 
hkethis?"  What  could  he  do  on  the  wedding-day?  "  Well,  Achsah, 
thou  shalt  have  'the  upper  s^^rings  and  the  nether  springs;'"  a  great 
gift,  with  the  promise  of  which  she  went  back  quickly  enough  to  tell 
her  husband  her  good  fortune.  A  secluded  valley,  exactly  suiting  this 
incident,  is  found  at  El-Dilbeh.  Even  at  the  end  of  October,  after  tlie 
fierce  summer  heats.  Captain  Conder  found  here  a  considerable  brook 
running  down  the  middle  of  the  glen,  and  branching  oft"  through  small 
gardens  for  four  or  five  miles.  Such  a  supply  of  water  is  a  phenom- 
enon in  Palestine;  but  it  is  still  more  extraordinary  in  the  Negeb, 
where  no  other  springs  are  found.  There  are,  in  all,  fourteen  springs, 
in  three  groups,  at  El-Dilbeh,  both  upper  and  lower — higher  up  the 
valley  and  lower  down — which  bubble  forth  all  the  3'ear  round,  afford- 
ing water  enough,  if  there  were  energy  to  utilize  it,  to  turn  the  whole 
valley  into  a  paradise.^ 

Debir  must  have  had  a  strange  history,  for  its  earlier  name  had  been 
Kiriath  Sepher,  or  "  Book-town,"  a  seat  of  old  Canaanite  culture,  where 
scribes  diligently  recorded  and  preserved  what  seemed  in  their  eyes 
worthy  of  note.  Who  can  tell  how  far  back  this  carries  the  art  of 
writing?  But,  indeed,  among  the  Accadians  on  the  Euphrates,  it  had 
flourished,  as  the  inscriptions  in  the  British  Museum  prove,  for  an 
unknown  succession  of  centuries  before  Abraham  left  that  region! 
There  was  also  another  name  to  this  strange  old  town,  Kiriath  Sanna 
— "the  Town  of  Learning" — Avhere  the  priests  of  the  primsBval  world 
gathered  their  students,  and  tauglit  them  the  wisdom  of  the  day. 

At  Dhaheriyeh,  one  of  the  claimants  for  the  honor  of  representing 
Debir,  there  is  a  wine-press  of  unusual  size — nearly  eighteen  feet  long, 
and  over  fifteen  feet  broad — which  helps  us  to  understand  how  Gideon 
could  "  thresh  wheat  by  the  wine-press,  to  save  it  *iom  the  Midian- 
ites."2  Cut  out,  as  it  was,  in  the  living  rock,  and  of  great  size,  he 
could  store  his  grain  in  it  unobserved  by  those  at  a  distance,  which 
would  not  have  been  possible  if  the  "floor"  had,  as  usual,  been  in  the 
open  field,  or  on  the  top  of  a  hill.  Dhaheriyeh  is  visible  a  great  way 
off  in  every  direction,  for  it  lies  high,  but  when  it  is  reached  it  ))roves 
to  be  only  a  rude  collection  of  stone  hovels,  some  broken  down,  others 
half  underground.  There  are  the  remains  of  a  square  tower,  now  used 
as  a  dwelling,  and  the  arched  doorways  of  many  of  the  hovels  are  of 
hewn  f.tone,  relics  of  better  days.  There  seems  to  have  once  been  a 
stronghold  here:  one  of  the  line  of  "fortified  towns"  which  anciently 
stood  along  all  the  southern  border  of  Palestine.  The  number  of  able- 
bodied  men  in  the  village  is  about  a  hundred;   and  it  may  assist  in 

I  pea.  Beportt,  1874,  p.  65.    2  Judf?.  vl.  H, 


P  , 

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II 


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ZVL] 


VBl  COUNTRY  SOUTH  OF  HBBBOV. 


m 


realizing  the  oppression  of  their  subjects  by  Eastern  govemments, 
when  I  state  that  when  the  Egyptians  held  the  country  before  1840, 
out  of  this  hundred  no  fewer  than  thirty-eight  were  carried  off  to  serve 
in  distant  lands,  in  tlie  army.  Ruined  as  it  is,  the  village  is  rich  in 
flocks  and  herds,  and  has  at  least  a  hundred  camels.  Yet  the  country 
around  is  very  barren.  The  limestone  stands  out  from  the  sides  and 
tops  of  the  bald  hills  in  hu^e  sheets  and  rough  masses,  giving  the 
wnole  landscape  a  ghastly  white  color.    There  are  no  trees,  nor  any 

§  rain-patches,  except  at  the  bottom  of  the  narrow  ravines.  Still,  the 
ocks  and  herds  showed  that  even  this  dreary  and  forbidding  desola- 
tion affords  good  pasture,  for  tiiey  were  both  fat  and  sleek;  and  this 
very  region  lias  been  the  haunt  of  shepherds  since  the  days  of  the 
patriarchs. 

From  Dhaheriyeh  to  El-Dilbeh  the  trLck  is,  in  part,  verv  steep  and 
rocky ;  then  comes  a  broad  wady ;  then  more  hills  and  nollows,  the 
hills,  however,  gradually  beginning  to  show  dwarf-oaks,  arbutus,  and 
other  scrub.  The  Wady-el-Dilbeh,  with  its  springs  of  running  water, 
is  a  delightful  relief  to  the  tl<irsty  traveller.  There  is  no  village  now ; 
but  in  summer  the  caves  in  the  hills  on  each  side  are  used  as  dwell- 
ings by  companies  of  peasants,  who  migrate  to  the  spot  with  tlieir 
flocks  and  all  their  belongings,  deserting  their  villages  for  the  time. 
As  Hebron  is  approached,  the  hills  become  more  thickly  clothed  with 
bushes,  while  a  kind  of  thyme  fills  the  air  with  its  sweetness.  Then 
follow  the  vineyards  and  olive-grounds  of  the  old  city,  each  with  its 
small  house  or  tower  of  stone  for  a  keeper,  though  the  people  of  Heb- 
ron themselves  go  out  and  live  in  them  during  the  vintage,  to  such  an 
extent  that  the  town  for  the  time  seems  almost  deserted.  Presently, 
as  you  ascend  another  hill,  the  city  comes  ^n  sight,  lying  low  down  on 
the  sloping  side  of  its  valley,  mostly  facing  the  south-east ;  the  houses, 
as  I  have  said,  all  of  stone,  high  and  well  built,  with  windows  and  flat 
roofs,  dotted  with  low  domes,  of  which  a  single  dwelling  has  some- 
times two  or  three,  marking  the  crown  of  the  arched  stone  chambers 
below.  Hebron  has  no  walls ;  but  there  are  gates  at  the  entrance  of 
one  or  two  streets  which  lead  from  the  country.  Besides  the  great 
Mosque  of  Machpelah,  there  is  a  castle,  not  high,  but  with  enormously 
strong  walls,  parts  of  which,  however,  as  is  usual  with  any  Turkish 
building,  are  in  ruins.  There  is  also  a  large  khan,  or  place  of  rest  for 
traders  and  others  as  they  pass  through  or  transact  business  in  Hebron, 
a  stone  over  the  gate  Plating  that  it  was  built  in  A.  D.  1282. 

A  visit  to  a  tannery  in  this  vicinity  showed  how  the  skin  bottles  of 
the  country  are  made.  On  the  hill-side  north  of  the  mosque  was  a 
large  tan-yard  for  the  manufacture  of  water-skins,  which,  as  I  have 
said,  are  merely  the  skins  of  goats,  stripped  oflf  whole,  except  at  the 
legs,  tail,  and  neok,  the  holes  of  the  legs  and  tail  bein^  sewn  up,  whil^ 


I 


228 


THE   HOLY   LAND  AND  THE   BIBLE. 


[OnAF. 


II 


the  neck  is  left  open  as  a  inoutli.  The  skins  are  first  stufiecl  to  tlie 
utmost  wiiii  oak  chips,  on  which  a  strong  solution  ot  oak -bark  is  then 
plentifully  puureil,  and  the  t.iiole  left  till  the  hair  becomes  fixed  an<i 
the  skin  tainied.  This  is  all  that  is  done  with  them.  Quantities  o!' 
these  swollen  headless  and  legless  skins  lay  in  rows,  to  the  number  of 
not  less  than  1,500,  presenting  a  very  strange  spectacle.  The  price  of 
a  bottle  varies  from  about  three  shillings  to  eignt  in  our  money. 

A  last  look  at  the  valley  impresses  one  witli  the  strange  contradic- 
tions to  be  met  in  Palestine.  The  hills  all  round  the  town  look  utterly 
barren,  except  the  one  to  the  south,  which  is  covered  with  olives ;  yet 
the  vineyarus,  and  orchards  of  pear,  quince,  fig,  pomegranate,  apricot, 
and  other  fruits,  had  covered  miles  as  I  approached  at  first,  fVom  the 
west.  All  the  hill-sides  had  been  terraced,  and  every  spot  of  soil 
among  the  rocks  utilized.  But  even  where  thus  made  artificially  fer- 
tile, the  slopes  seemed,  from  l)elow,  a  sheet  of  bare  rock,  on  account  of 
the  stone  walls  of  the  terraces  rising  so  closely  one  over  the  other. 
In  summer,  when  the  leaves  are  in  their  glory,  the  scene  must  be  more 
attractive;  but  at  no  time  can  vines  grown  like  those  of  Hebron  be 
picturesque.  The  one  stem  from  four  to  six  feet  high,  erect,  or  bent 
almost  to  the  ground,  with  a  longer  or  shorter  prop  to  keep  it  fVom 
actually  touching  the  earth,  and  a  few  shoots  from  «^^oh  crown,  make 
only  a  modest  picture. 

The  threshing-floors  of  Hebron  are  on  the  slopes  of  the  hill,  beside 
the  cemetery,  on  the  south-west  side  of  the  valley.  All  who  have 
any  grain,  of  whatever  kind,  to  tread  out,  make  free  use  of  them. 
Barley,  lentils,  and  vetches,  which  are  grown  chiefly  for  camels,  are 
the  first  crops  ripe,  and  are  laid  in  heaps  till  the  owners  can  bring  their 
beasts  to  pace  round  over  them  as  they  lie  spread  out  in  a  circle.  Nor 
do  they  care  to  finish  at  once ;  other  calls  detain  their  animals,  so  that 
they  come  to  the  floor  only  when  it  suits  them,  leaving  after  two  or 
three  hours,  since  in  this  climate  there  is  no  fear  of  rain.  Sometimes 
two,  or  even  four  beasts  are  driven  round  over  the  grain — donkeys, 
cattle,  or  horses,  as  the  owner  possesses  one  or  other.  None  of  these 
animals  are  muzzled,  for  it  is  still  against  custom  to  prevent  the  crea- 
tures tl  at  tread  out  the  com  from  rewarding  themselves  for  their  toil 
by  a  chance  mouthful.^  The  winnowing  is  done  by  tossing  the  trod- 
den straw  against  the  wind  with  a  fork  ;^  and  the  owners  of  the  crops 
come  every  night  and  sleep  on  their  threshing-flor  rs  to  guard  them, 
just  as  Boaz  did  more  than  three  thousand  years  ago.' 

The  people  of  Hebron,  in  their  higher  and  lower  classes,  are,  per- 
haps, the  best  representation  to  be  found  in  Palestine  of  purely  Eastern 
manners.  The  poor  live  in  a  very  humble  way  indeed,  mainly  on 
fruit,  bread,  and  vegetables.  The  rich  are  more  elaborate  in  their 
I  Peud.  »y.  4;  1  CQr.  lx.9: ;  Tim.  v.  18.  2  ^tt.  }ii.  Vi;  Luke  Iti.  17.  8  J^nth )t(.  »-l4. 


e; 


XVt,] 


tttS  COt7l7tIlV   SOtJTfi  01!*  IttBBllO^. 


per- 
stern 
y  on 
their 


meals.  I  have  described  the  reception-room  of  the  officer  in  command 
of  the  troops  in  tlie  south  of  l^alestine,  but  he  was  partly  Western  in 
his  ideas  and  dress>  It  is  very  different  with  the  principal  local  lam- 
ilies.  Their  mode  of  living  may  be  illustrated  us  a  wliole  from  the 
details  of  one  dinner,  at  which  several  distinguished  personages  were 
present.  A  very  large  circular  tray  of  tinned  copper,  placed  on  a 
course  wooden  stool  about  a  foot  high,  served  as  the  table.  In  the 
centre  of  this  stood  another  big  tray,  with  a  mountain  of  pillau,  com- 
posed of  rioe,  boiled  and  buttered,  with  small  pieces  of  meat  strewn 
through  and  upon  it.  This  was  the  chief  dish,  though  there  were 
other  smaller  dishes,  both  meat  and  vegetable.  Ten  persons  sat  round 
the  table,  or  rather  squatted  on  the  carpet,  with  their  knees  drawn  up 
close  to  their  bodies.  Each  had  before  him  a  nlate  of  tinned  cop{)er 
and  a  wooden  spoon,  which  some  used  without  tne  plate.  Most,  how- 
ever, preferred  to  use  the  fingers  of  the  left  hand,  several  dipping  their 
hands  together  into  the  dish,  as  the  apostles  did  at  the  Last  Supper.'-^ 
As  soon  as  anyone  had  finished,  he  rose  and  went  into  anotiier  room, 
to  have  water  poured  over  his  hands  to  wash  them,  and  the  vacant 
place  at  the  table  was  instantly  filled  by  a  new-comer. 

Such  was  the  dinner  provided  for  three  governors,  among  other 
grandees.  The  bread,  I  may  say,  was  laid  on  the  mat  under  the  tray, 
80  as  to  be  easily  reached ;  and  a  jar  of  water,  the  only  beverage  used 
during  the  meal,  stood  within  reach.  Besides  rice,  stews  of  beans  or 
cracked  wheat,  with  thick  soup  or  sauce  poured  over  them,  in  the 
great  central  bowl,  are  also  in  fashion.  Spoons,  though  sometimes 
provided,  are  often  wanting — pieces  of  the  thin  bread,  doubled,  serving 
instead.  Knives  and  forks  are  unknown;  and  as  there  is  no  special 
dining-room,  there  is  no  furniture  suited  for  one.  Kence  tables  and 
chairs  are  never  seen.  The  meat  being  always  cut  up  into  small  pieces, 
there  is  no  need  for  a  knife,  and  chickens  can  easily  be  torn  asunder 
with  the  hands.  So  far,  indeed,  are  Orientals  from  thinking  it  strange 
to  dip  their  fingers  into  the  common  dish,  that  it  is  a  special  act  of 
politeness  to  grope  in  it  for  the  visitor,  and  lay  nice  morsels  before 
him,  or  even  to  insist  on  putting  them  into  his  mouth.  Chickens  are 
the  most  common  form  of  animal  food  met  everywhere.  A  traveller 
from  the  West,  in  fact,  gets  disgusted  with  their  constant  appearance 
at  every  meal,  especially  as  he  often  hears  their  death-cries  only  a  few 
minutes  before  they  are  served  up.  "To  kill  and  eat"  follows  with 
the  same  closeness  now  as  in  the  days  of  St.  Peter,^  whether  it  be 
chickens  or  anything  larger. 

1  See  ante,  p.  327.    2  Matt.  xzvi.  23 ;  Mark  xiv.  20.    3  Acts  z.  18. 


9 


280 


¥HS  ItOLy  LAND  AND  YfitS  btBLB. 


tOlAT. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 


THE  COUNTRY  NORTH  OF  HEBRON. 


The  road  fVom  Hebron  to  Jerusalem  is  rough  and  mountainous,  but 
very  direct.  Our  kind  host  wished  us  to  stay  with  him  longer,  but 
this  being  impossible,  wo  sent  on  our  donkeys  with  the  tents,  the  Turk- 
ish soldiers  having  duly  found  the  wanderers  and  brought  them  to 
Hebron.  They  had  been  overtaken  by  night,  they  said,  at  Falujch, 
and  fearing  robbers,  had  slept  there — that  is,  they  had  lain  down  beside 
their  beasts  in  the  dress  thev  wore.  A  spring  runs  down  from  the 
north  side  of  the  hill  as  you  leave  Hebron,  and  makes  the  track  for  a 
time  muddy ;  but  this  is  rather  a  welcome  sight  in  Palestine.  A  fringe 
of  grass  at  the  sides,  below  the  broad,  low  walks  of  loose  stones  picked 
oft'  the  small  fields,  vineyards,  &;c.,  which  skirted  our  way,  was  a  lovely 
green.  The  path  soon  aftor  was  for  a  time  rongiily  paved — when,  or 
by  whom,  is  a  very  hard  question  to  answer;  but  the  stones  are  now 
at  such  angles,  and  in  such  heights  and  hollows,  that  they  would  break 
the  legs  of  any  horses  not  bred  in  the  country.  Before  long  the  road 
became  simply  fearful,  running  in  the  dry  bed  of  a  winter  torrent 
strewn  with  stones  of  all  sizes,  in  thick  masses.  Every  patch  of  soil 
on  the  bare  hill-sides  was  in  some  wav  utilized.  Four  camels  passed 
us  with  bags  of  tallow,  then  a  man  with  a  very  primitive  gun — a  shep- 
herd from  the  hills.  We  next  came  to  a  well,  where  there  were 
women  in  blue  cotton,  with  white  cloth  over  their  heads,  some  draw- 
ing water,  others  pounding  household  linen  with  a  stone  at  a  small 
pool  by  the  well-side;  the  linen,  I  fear,  sadly  wanting  their  kind 
offices.  Not  far  from  Hebron  a  small  valley  ran  into  the  one  we  were 
climbing,  with  fine  vineyards  growing  on  terraces  up  the  hills.  This 
has  been  thought  to  be  the  valley  of  Eshcol,  from  which  the  spies 
brought  back  the  grapes,*  but,  as  I  have  previously  said,*  tlie  fruit 
must  have  been  gathered  much  farther  south,  near  Kadesh. 

The  road,  bad  though  it  was,  bore  every  appearance  of  having 
always  been  the  highway  between  Hebron  and  Jerusalem,  for  it  is 
direct,  and  has  evidently  been  made  by  human  labor  in  a  long-past  age. 
It  is  certain,  however,  that  it  could  never  have  been  passable  for 
wheels,  for  they  could  not  be  dragged  over  such  a  wilderness  of  bould- 
ers and  loose  stones  of  all  sizes,  or  up  slopes  so  steep.  Nor,  indeed,  do 
we  hear  of  wheeled  vehicles  in  the  parts  south  of  Jerusalem,  except 
when  Joseph  sent  wagons  to  bring  down  his  father  Jacob  to  Egypt ; 
and  they  only  came  as  far  as  Hebron,  whence  Jacob,  then  very  old,  trav> 
elled  in  them  to  Beersheba.'  As  in  olden  times,  the  ass  is  the  main 
1  Num.  xiU.  28.  8  Soe  aaU,  pp.  960, 818.  8  Oen.  xlv.  19, 20, 27 1  xlvl.  1. 


kind 


xvn.) 


TfiS  COtTKTHY  KOtlTR  OP  HBBllOI^. 


m 


raw- 
Isrnall 
kind 
were 
This 
I  spies 
fruit 


rpt; 
I  trav- 
main 


help  for  a  journey,  liorees  still  being  few,  and  mules  only  used  for  bag- 
gage and  uther  burdens.  Dig  men  on  diminutive  donkeys  are  seen 
everywhere,  and,  at  times,  a  woman  and  child  on  the  family  ass,  while 
the  husband  walks  at  the  side  of  his  wife.  Thus  Josepii,  it  is  to  be 
supposed,  travelled  with  the  Blessed  Virgin  from  Bethlehem  to  Egypt, 
and  from  Egypt  to  Nazaretii.^  So,  also,  rode  the  ancient  king8,'^auu 
so  rode  our  Lord,  as  the  Son  of  David,  in  fultihneut  of  the  words  of 
Zeohariah :  "  Behold,  thy  King  cometh  unto  thee,  lowly,  and  riding 
upon  an  ass,  and  upon  a  colt,  the  foal  of  an  ass; "  and  we  are  told  that 
Saul  rode  to  the  field  spear  in  hand,  as  peasants  on  their  asses  now 
carry  their  clubs  or  guns,  and  with  a  small  water-jar  tied  to  his  rude 
saddle,  as  in  our  day.^ 

About  three  miles  from  Hebron  a  path  runs  oft' towards  Tekoa;  and 
on  this,  al)out  five  minutes'  ride  from  the  road  we  were  following,  are 
two  courses  of  ancient  hewn  stones,  among  which  one  measured  fifteen 
and  a  half  feet  long,  and  three  and  a  third  feet  tliick.  There  are  l^i 
such  walls,  at  right  angles  to  each  other,  apparently  the  remains  oi  An 
enclosure,  one  side  of  which  measures  200  feet,  and  the  other  160.  The 
Jews  of  Hebron  call  this  "  the  House  of  Abraham,"  regarding  it  as  the 
spot  where  the  patriarcli  pitched  his  tent,  and  where  his  famous  tere- 
binth-tree grew.  Nor  is  this  really  improbable,  when  we  see  the 
extreme  age  of  the  walls,  as  shown  by  their  bevel,  and  by  the  size  of 
the  stones.  Besides,  the  tradition  is  at  least  1,500  years  old.  When 
between  four  and  five  miles  from  Hebron,  a  ruined  mosque  was  pointed 
out  on  the  right,  about  three  miles  from  tlie  road,  bearing  the  name  of 
Neby  Yunas — "the  Prophet  Jonah."  There  is  another  with  the  same 
name,  on  the  coast  below  Acre,  a  place  natural  enough  for  it;  but  why 
there  should  be  a  mosque  to  Jonah  near  Hebron  is  not  so  easy  to 
understand.  It  shows,  at  least,  how  deep  a  hold  the  narrative  about 
the  prophet  obtained  on  the  popular  mind.  What  kind  offish  or  crea- 
ture it  was  that  swallowed  him  has  been  discussed  a  thousand  timos, 
some  insisting  that  it  must  have  been  a  whale,  since  the  English  Testa- 
ment says  so.*  But  the  words  used,  both  in  the  Old  Testament  and 
the  New,  speak  only  of  a  great  fish  or  other  sea-monster,  leaving  the 
kind  entirely  an  open  question.  Bochart,  in  his  wonderful  "  Hierozoi- 
con,"*  has  long  ago  shown  that  huge  sharks  are  found  in  the  Mediter- 
ranean, able  to  swallow  a  man  entire,  and  Dr.  Pusey  has  quoted 
instances  in  his  elaborate  book  on  tiie  Minor  Prophets;*  but  it  is  not 
necessary  to  trouble  ourselves  with  such  details.  That  a  human  being 
should  have  lived  for  any  time  in  the  body  of  a  voracious  animal  was 
itself  a  miracL  so  great,  tlint  there  need  be  no  difficulty  as  to  the  mon- 
ster that  was  able  to  contain  liim.^ 


!) 


■i 


1  Mfttt.  II.  14,  31.    a  Zeoh.  Ix.  9;  Matt.  xxi.  5.    8  1  Sam.  xxvi.  U. 
ft  Hkrot.  ii.  742—746.  6  Fuitey,  Minor  Prophett— Jonah, 


4  £oiMloiKlM«Jtooft,p.68. 


m 


ISB  noVt  LAITD  AND  THE  BIBLB. 


tOitA». 


The  prophet's  gourd  has  also  been  the  subject  of  much  ooiitiovoisy. 
St.  Jerome  thought  tlie  word  should  be  "  ivy  "  ;  and  many  have  fancied 
that  the  castor-oil  tree  is  intended.  T\na  certainly  reaches  a  consider- 
able size,  being  founrl  twelve  or  fifteen  feet  high  in  Palestine ;  but  it 
has  widely  open-branches,  and  is  indifferently  fitted  for  giving  shade. 
Dr.  Tristram,  on  this  ground  among  others,  thinks  that  the  bottle- 
gourd  is  meant — a  plant  very  commonly  used  in  Palestine  and  else- 
where to  cove?  and  give  cooling  shade  to  arbors.  I  have  often  seen 
it,,  both  in  the  Holy  Land  and  in  America,  trained  over  such  shelters, 
its  rapid  growth  and  large  leaver  admirably  adapting  it  to  such  a  pur- 
pose, while  the  extreme  fragility  of  its  stem  exposes  it  to  a  striking 
suddenness  of  decay,  should  a  storm  strike  it  or  a  caterpillar  gnaw  at 
its  root.  One  day  it  may  be  seen  in  its  glory  ;  the  next,  it  hangs 
withered  and  dried  up.  This  would  exactly  suit  the  narrative.  The 
prophet's  frail  booth  covered  with  soft  green,  as  it  were  in  a  night, 
Blight,  before  another  sunset,  be  left  bare  as  at  first  by  the  violence  of 
a  passing  wind,  or  a  chance  injury  to  the  stem,  even  from  a  cause  so 
insign.iicant  as  the  tooth  of  a  "worm."^  Dr.  Thompson  ^  agrees 
with  Canon  Tristram  in  rejecting  the  castor-oil  plant  for  the  gourd, 
and,  indeed,  the  difficulty  could  only  have  arisen  from  the  similarity  in 
sound,  in  the  modern  languages  of  Palestine,  between  the  names  of  the 
two — "  kurah  "  meaning  gourd, and  "kurwah  "  castor-oil  plant ;  while  in 
the  Hebrew  the  gourd  is  "  kikayon ;  "  and  in  Herodotus  the  castor-oil 
plant  is  "  kiki." 

Tarshish,  to  which  Jonah's  ship  was  bound,  seems  to  have  been  the 
name  given  originally  to  the  Guadalquivir,  in  Spain,  and  to  a  populous 
town  at  its  mouth.  It  is  Ln  aboriginal  Spanish  word  rather*  than  a 
Phoenician ;  but  a  Carthaginian — that  is,  a  Phoenician — colony, 
founded  in  the  neighborhood,  adopted  it  as  the  name  of  the  port  which 
became  famous  as  the  farthest  western  harbor  of  Tyrian  sailors  in 
the  southern  seas  of  Europe.  Ships  of  large  size  were  hence  called 
"  Tarshish  ships,"  whether  sailing  to  that  port  or  not ;  ^  their  dimen- 
sions and  splendid  finish  seeming  to  the  Hebrew  prophets  one  of  the 
supreme  illustrations  of  human  power  and  pride.*  Solomon's  ships, 
trading  to  Ceylon  or  East  Africa,  were  also  called  "  Tarshish  ships;  " 
and  so  were  those  ot  Tehoshaphat,  which  were  built  on  the  Red  Sea.^ 
But  Jonah's  ship  was  apparently  about  to  sail  for  Tarshish,  in  Spain, 
and  must  have  lain  out  in  the  roads  at  Joppa,  having  only  called  there 
for  freight  or  passengers,  after  sta'  ting  from  the  docks  at  Tyre.  The 
description  of  such  a  vessel  in  Ezekiel®  helps  us  to  realize  the  circum- 
stances of  the  attempted  voyage,  though  the  details  given  by  the 
prophet  may  have  varied  in  different  ships.    The  deck  was  of  cypress ; 


1  Jonah  iv.  6-t.    2  Land  an/!  iAe  Book,  p.  70. 
6  IXlngrfx.  23  {1x11.49.  6Ez')k.  xxvll. 


8lMkU.16;ls.e.    4Isa.szU.l(Ezek.xxTU.25. 


XVliJ 


?^flE  coUNi'RY  North  of  rtfiBuoM. 


283 


the  mast,  a  tall  cedar ;  the  helm,  oak  of  Baslmn ;  the  oar-benches,  of 
the  cypress  of  Cyprus,  inlaid  with  ivory  ;  the  sails,  of  white  Egyptian 
canvas,  gaily  embroidered;  while  the  awnings  over  the  quarter-deck, 
to  keep  the  sun  from  the  cabin-passengers,  were  of  blue  and  purple. 
The  oarsmen  were  the  famed  sea-dogs  of  Sidou  and  Aradus ;  the 
steersmen,  from  Tyre,  had  the  care  of  the  sails  and  rigging,  and  were 
under  the  command  of  a  chief  steersman,  or  "master";  the  staft*  of 
ship  carpenters  was  from  Gebal ;  and  there  were,  besides,  traders, 
soldiers  attached  to  the  ship,  and  passengers.  A  wonderful  picture  of 
an  ocean-going  ship  of  three  thousand  years  ago  ! 

At  El-Dirweh,  about  six  miles  from  Hebron,  on  the  right  of  the 
track,  a  fountain  was  pouring  clear,  sparkling  water  into  a  stone  trough, 
at  a  short  distance  from  the  ruins  of  a  fortress,  the  scene  of  brave 
deeds  in  the  Lirue  of  the  Maccabees,  for  it  is  the  site  of  the  ancient 
Bethsur,  a  tower  bearing  that  name  standing  on  a  low  height  a  little 
way  off  the  road.  Only  one  side  of  it  is  left ;  but  some  of  the  stones 
are  draftee* ,  showing  that  the  masonry  is  at  the  oldest  Byzantine. 
There  are  also  hewn  stones  lying  around,  and  l'(  imdations  of  buildings ; 
but  there  are  no  marks  of  a  fortified  wall  round  the  station.  The 
tower  itself  is  only  about  twenty  feet  square,  put  its  position  is  very 
strong,  and  it  commanded,  in  its  day,  the  great  road  from  the  south  to 
Jerusalem.  Josepaus  speaks  of  it  as  the  strongest  fortress  in  Judaea.^ 
Already  existing  as  a  village  in  the  time  of  Joshua,  Bethsur  was  forti- 
fied in  that  of  Eehoboam,  and  its  inhabitants,  alter  the  exile,  helped 
to  rebuild  the  long-destroyed  walls  of  Jerusalem.^  A  fierce  battle 
once  raged  all  round  these  hills  and  gorges,  when  Judas  Maccabaens 
defeated  the  Syrian  general,  Lysias,  and  was  able  to  strengthen  the 
tower  against  the  Edomites.'*  Nor  was  this  the  last  time  that  these, 
rocks  were  colored  with  blood,  for  the  Syrian  retook  Bethsur,  and  it  was 
wrested  from  him  once  more  and  made  stronger  than  ever  by  Simon 
Maccabaeus,  the  last  survivor  of  the  great  brothers.^  The  fountain  is 
only  seven  minutes'  walk  from  this  memorable  spot,  and  issues  from 
beneath  a  wall  of  large  hewn  stones,  a  runnel  from  it  flowing  down  the 
road.  On  the  other  side  of  the  track  is  a  small  tank  lined  with  cement, 
as  well  as  a  larger  and  rougher  one,  uncemented .  There  are  marks  of  an 
ancient  pavement,  now  '  roken  and  terribly  rough,  but  once,  no  doubt, 
very  different.  The  ruins  of  an  ancient  church  lie  near  the  fountain, 
with  remains  of  the  old  wall  that  enclosed  its  yard.  It  has  been 
thought  that  Bethsur  was  the  scen<  of  the  baptism  of  the  eunuch  by 
St.  Philip  when  on  the  way  from  Jerusalem  to  Gaza ;  but  it  is  much 
more  likely  that  the  incident  occurred  between  Beit  Jibrin  and  Gaza, 

1  Jos.  Ant.,  xiii.  5, 6.    2  Josh.  xill.  68 ;  2  Ghron.  xl.  7;  Neh.  i!i.  16.    3  1  Mace.  iv.  29, 61 :  2  Mace.  xi. 
6 ;  Jos.  ArU.,  \\\.  7, 5.    41  Mace.  vi.  31,  60;  ix.  62 ;  x.  14 ;  xi.  65,  66 ;  xlv.  7,  33. 


^1 


234 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


[CHAP. 


especially  since  St.  Philip  whs  afterwards  found  at  Ashdod,  on  the 
Philistine  plain.^     Bethsur  lies  3,180  feet  above  the  sea. 

Just  after  passing  it,  a  wady  on  the  left,  with  the  name  Bereikut, 
recalled  the  valley  of  Berachaii,'^  the  scene  of  Jehoshaphat's  thanks- 
giving, which  the  locality  exactly  suits,  as  Tekoa  is  only  about  three 
miles  oft'  to  the  east.  On  a  hill  to  the  left  stood  the  hamlet  of  Jedur, 
the  ancient  Gedor.^  The  read  lay  mostly  through  a  broad  valley, 
with  successive  swells  and  hollows,  the  level  still  rising,  and,  hills, 
single  or  together,  shutting  in  the  view  east  and  west.  The  slopes 
v/ere  mostly  covered  with  scrub-trees  and  herbs,  hiding  the  bare  chalks 
and  here  and  there  lime-kilns  were  to  be  seen,  burning  oi*  idle.  Ruins 
crowned  most  of  the  hill-tops  both  right  and  left,  and  smoke  from  the 
charcoal  burners'  fires  often  rose  from  the  bush,  but  there  was 
nowhere  c  village  on  the  whole  road.  Some  parts  showed  ancient 
terraces,  and  in  one  place  there  were  cultivated  patches,  "tind  even 
small  fields,  among  the  stones;  yet,  as  a  whole,  the  road  led  through 
wild  desolation.  At  one  point  it  seemed,  indeed,  to  vanish,  leaving 
only  a  track,  visible  perhaps  to  horses  and  mules,  but  beyond  my 
recognition.  Climbing  the  side  of  a  very  steep  hill,  it  crept  along 
through  a  chaos  of  rocks,  witii  only  room  enough  at  some  places  for 
my  beast  to  get  through  without  leaving  me  behind.  Thj  valley  lay 
two  or  three  hundred  feet  below  when  we  reached  our  highest  point ; 
but  before  us  and  on  both  sides  the  grey  barren  rocks  stretched  slowly 
up,  the  picture  of  a  desert.  To  trust  the  sensible  beast  I  rode  was  the 
only  security,  as  it  climbed  the  stony  roughness,  or  dropped  its  fore- 
legs over  some  huge  boulder.  Not  seldom  the  path  was  hardly  broad 
enough  to  let  the  creature  pass  along  without  falling  over  the  side ; 
and  there  was  present  to  my  mind  the  comfortable  reflection  that, 
once  offj  it  would  roll  to  an  indefinite  depth  down  the  wild  steep. 
The  broad  glen,  far  below,  was  at  this  part  more  or  less  cultivated ; 
and  no  doubt  there  was  some  road  through  it,  but  my  guide  had  taken 
a  short  cut  over  the  mountains,  to  his  own  delight  perhaps,  but 
certainly  not  to  mine. 

Once  more  on  a  safe  level,  we  found  ourselves  in  the  midst  of  a 
great  number  of  Russian  pilgrims  on  their  way  to  Juttah,  the  birth- 
place of  St.  John  the  Baptist.  There  were  some  priests  among  them 
with  the  strange  brimless  hat  of  the  (jreek  Church,  and  the  flowing 
beard  of  which  its  clergy  are  all  so  proud.  Most  of  the  pilgrims  were 
of  middle  age,  and  the  two  sexes  were  equally  well  represented.  Fur 
caps,  thick  woollen  coats,  trousers,  petticoats,  and  heavy  boots,  seemed 
very  ill  suited  to  the  climate ;  but  they  would  at  least  withstand  the 
wear  and  tear  of  the  long  journev  from  Russia  and  back.  Many 
carried  pots  and  cooking  vessels ;  some,  bundles  of  household  gear ; 

1  Acts  viii.  38.    2  2  Chron.  xx.  26.   3  Josb.  xii.  13. 


xvn.] 


THE  COUNTRY  NORTH  OP  HEBRON. 


285 


and  all  were  comfortably,  if  roughly,  equipped.  They  had  no  doubt 
come  from  Constantinople  to  Joppa  in  a  Russian  steamer,  enduring 
what  to  us  would  be  intolerable  hardships,  and  were  now  proposing  to 
return  to  Jerusalem  in  time  for  Easter,  and  then,  to  go  down  to  the 
Jordan  and  dip  in  its  sacred  waters,  finding  their  way  back  to  Russia 
as  they  best  could,  after  having  completed  this  long  pilgrimage.  So, 
in  ancient  days,  had  there  come  to  Jerusalem  "  Jews,  devout  men,  out 
of  every  nation  under  heaven,"^  to  keep  the  Passover,  the  Easter  of 
the  Hebrew. 

The  hills  on  each  side  of  the  valley,  beyond  this,  were  covered  with 
bushes,  through  which  the  remains  of  ancient  terraces  showed  them- 
selves; but  a  ruined  village,  with  olive-trees  and  some  ploughed 
land  round  it,  and  a  rainwater  pond,  were  almost  the  only  signs 
that  the  land  was  still  in  some  parts  inhabited.  A  little  further 
on,  where  a  valley  crossed  our  path  at  right  angles,  making  a 
wide  open  space,  we  reached  the  famous  reservoirs  known  as  Solo- 
mon's Pools.  The  three  huge  cisterns  thus  designated  are  built  of 
squared  stones,  and  bear  marks  of  the  highest  antiquity.  They  lie 
one  below  the  other,  at  a  height  of  2,600  feet  above  the  sea,  at  th^i 
west  end  of  the  narrow  Wady  Urtas,  which  runs  east  and  west  across 
the  track  by  which  we  had  come  from  Hebron.  In  a  place  so  lonely, 
theoe  vast  structures  fill  the  mind  with  wonder.  They  are  separated 
from  one  ar  ^ther  by  only  a  short  interval,  and  the  bottom  of  each  is 
higher  than  the  top  of  the  one  below  it.  The  uppor  pool  has  the 
great  length  of  380  feet,  and  is  229  feet  broad  at  tlie  west,  and  236  at 
the  east  end,  whilv  its  depth  is  tvventy-five  feet.  The  middle  pool, 
however,  is  no  less  than  423  feet  long,  160  feet  broad  at  the  west,  and 
250  at  the  east  end,  and  its  depi'i  is  thirty-nine  feet.  But  the  lowest 
pool  is  the  largest  of  the  three,  measuring  582  feet  in  length,  148  feet 
iDroad  at  the  west,  and  207  at  the  east  end,  with  a  depth  of  fifty  feet. 
The  depth,  I  may  say,  is  in  each  case  that  of  the  lower,  or  eastern,  end. 
Between  the  surfaces  of  the  upper  and  middle  pools  there  is  a  distance 
of  160  feet  and  the  lower  pool  is  248  feet  from  the  middle  one,  so  that 
this  gigantic  series  of  reservoirs  extends,  in  all,  to  the  great  distance 
of  1,793  feet,  or  more  than  the  third  of  a  mile.  The  inside  and  the 
bed  of  all  three,  so  far  as  can  be  seen,  are  lined  with  cement,  which, 
however,  has  broken  away  in  some  places,  while  in  others  it  has  evi- 
dently been  repaired.  Flights  of  steps  at  the  corners  and  the  middle 
lead  to  the  water,  and  huge*steps  along  the  sides  at  the  bottom,  leave 
a  central  channel  of  extra  depth,  in  which  the  bare  rock  shows  itself 
in  many  places.  Water  stood  in  the  upper  and  middle  pools,  but  the 
lower  one  was  dry.  The  steps  at  the  sides,  along  the  bottom,  are  cut 
in  the  native  rock,  but  I  did  not  attempt  to  go  down  to  them,  as  they 

1  Acta  ii.  6. 


I 


286 


THE  HOLY  LAlJt)  AND  *flBS  ttfitEl. 


tCittl#. 


were  largely  covered  with  the  jelly  of  decayed  water- weeds,  beds  of 
which  floated  in  the  pools.  The  lower  pool  is  connected  with  the 
second  by  a  steep  channel,  through  which,  however,  there  was  no 
water  running ;  but  a  steady  flow  came  into  the  second  pool  from  an 
opening  connecting  it  with  the  first.  The  walls  must  be  immensely 
strong  to  have  stood  firm  for  so  many  centuries ;  but,  of  course,  they 
are  in  reality  only  a  facing  to  the  rock,  out  of  which  all  the  cisterns 
have  been  hewn. 

Immediately  to  the  north-west  of  the  Pools  is  an  abandoned,  strag- 
gling fort,  built  by  the  Saracens,  and  known  as  El-Burak.  T  "^  or 
three  men  were  living  in  the  rude  chambers  inside  the  gate,  and  some 
poor  Arabs  had  sought  temporary  shelter  in  the  wide,  forsaken  interior, 
which  is  square  and  devoid  of  buildings.  Herds  and  flocks  evidently 
made  use  of  it  as  a  spacious  fold.  In  its  day  the  fort  had  helped  to 
protect  the  Pools,  but  this  service  is  no  longer  necessary.  Grass  and 
flowers  sprinkled  the  ground  outside,  but  the  slopes  north  and  south, 
closing  in  the  valley,  were  unusually  wild  and  bare ;  the  winter  storms, 
unchecked  by  trees  or  shrubs,  having  v.''ashed  down  all  the  soil  and  left 
the  hill-sides  strewn  with  great  blocks  of  stone  in  the  wildest  con- 
fusion. 

The  Wady  Urtas  sinks  steeply  from  west  to  east,  the  direction  of 
the  Pools ;  so  that,  had  one  pool  been  made  instead  of  three,  the  wady 
must  have  been  dammed  by  a  gigantic  wall — if,  indeed,  any  structure 
could  have  resisted  the  weight  of  such  a  body  of  water  as  would  thus 
have  accumulated.  But  even  to  hew  out  the  three  separate  pools  must 
have  been  a  wonderful  undertaking,  especially  in  an  age  when  science 
was  so  imperfect  that  it  has  left  one  end  of  each  excavation  broader 
than  the  other,  apparently  from  inability  to  follow  a  straight  line. 
Indeed,  there  are  many  indications  of  imperfect  engineering,  though 
the  effect,  as  a  whole,  is  so  striking.  Tradition  ascribes  Jie  enterprise 
to  SolomoL,  and  we  know  that  he  had  great  gardens  near  Jerusalem, 
and  a  pleasure-palace,  to  which  he  drove  out  in  royal  pomp.  These, 
it  may  be,  were  in  Wady  U^tas,  watered  by  the  abundant  streams  from 
the  Pools.  Perhaps  it  is  of  these,  and  in  this  very  place,  that  the 
Beloved  sings:  "Awake,  O  north  wind,  and  come,  thou  south,  blow 
upon  my  garden,  that  the  spices  may  flow  out.^  Let  my  beloved 
come  into  his  garden  and  eat  his  precious  fruits."  Perhaps  it  was  in 
these  delicious  retreats  that  he  sang  of  his  bride  as  "a  garden  barred, 
a  spring  shut  up,  a  fountain  sealed,"  and'compared  her  to  a  paradise- 
garden  of  pomegranates  and  all  kinds  of  noble  fruits,  henna,  with  spike- 
nard plants,  spikenard  and  saffron,  calamus  and  cinnamon,  with  all 
kinds  of  incense-bearing  trees,  myrrh  and  aloes,  and  all  the  best  of 
spices.2  The  beauty  of  the  Wady  Urtas  lower  down  makes  it  easy 
1  Cant.  iv.  16;  rather  "that  its  fragrance  may  spread  abroad."   2  Cant.  Iv.  12—14. 


i- 


red, 


of 
[asy 


XVII.J 


THE  COUNTUY   NOIITII   OF   HEBRON. 


237 


to  think  that  the  famous  king  enjoyed  the  glories  of  spring  in  its  bosom. 
We  read  of  him,  "  I  made  me  great  works ;  I  builded  me  houses ;  I 
planted  me  vineyards ;  I  made  me  gardens  and  parks ;  and  I  planted 
trees  in  them,  of  all  kinds  of  fruits ;  I  made  me  pools  of  water,  to 
water  therefrom  the  fruit  where  trees  were  reared."^  Why  may  not 
these  pools  be  those  of  Urtas?  They  may  well  have  beea  the  work  of 
that  ancient  time ;  their  very  defects,  in  some  respects,  being  an  indirect 
evidence  of  their  antiquity,  for  while  the  supreme  triumphs  of  Hebrew 
architecture  were  carried  out  by  the  help  of  skilled  Tyrian  architects 
and  masons,  those  in  whioh  only  native  skill  could  be  employed  would 
naturally  be  less  perfect.  We  see  an  illustration  of  this  in  the  subter- 
ranean rook  conduit  at  Siloam,  dating,  it  is  thought,  from  the  reign  of 
Hezekiah,  for  the  workmen,  beginning  at  both  ends,  have  missed  each 
other's  approach,  so  as  to  need  a  cross-opening  to  effect  a  junction.  It 
is  quite  possible,  then,  that  these  hu^e  excavations  are  a  memorial  of 
the  labor  exacted  by  Solomon  from  his  people,  the  bitterness  of  which 
led,  under  Rehoboam,  to  the  revolt  of  the  Ten  Tribes.^ 

The  supply  of  these  great  reservoirs  was  derived  from  four  springs, 
one  of  which  flows  underground  into  the  west,  or  upper  pool,  through 
a  vault ;  the  second  is  said  to  bubble  up  from  beneath  the  bottom  of 
the  Pools ;  the  third  runs  through  a  small  channel,  partly  of  stones, 
partly  of  stoneware  pipes,  from  tne  hill-side  south-east  of  the  fort :  a 
clear,  bright  stream,  with  whioh  I  quenched  my  thirst,  at  a  gap  in  the 
top  of  its  square  stone  bed.  The  forth  rises  inside  the  ola  castle. 
There  was,  besides,  a  high-level  aqueduct  which  brought  water  down  a 
long  wady  from  the  south,  partly  the  flow  of  a  spring  now  dried  up, 
but  also  the  surface  drainage  of  the  hills,  for  provision  was  made  that 
nothing  should  be  lost.  But  the  chief  of  all  these  sources  is  that  which 
rises  on  the  hill-side,  about  200  paces  west  of  the  upper  pool,  and  flows 
into  it,  as  I  have  said,  through  a  vault;  its  subterranean  course  lead- 
ing  to  a  popular  belief  that  it  is  the  "  sealed  fountain  "  of  Solomon's 
Song. 

In  former  times,  when  the  whole  water  system  of  which  the  Pools 
were  the  centre  was  perfect,  a  great  aqueduct,  the  continuation  of  that 
which  stretched  for  nearlv  ten  miles  from  the  south,  ran  under  the 
Pools,  receiving  additional  supplies  from  them,  and  was  led  on,  by  a 
winding  course,  along  the  hill-sides,  past  Bethlehem,  to  the  Temple 
space  in  Jerusalem.  The  portion  of  this  great  work  which  lies  south 
of  the  Pools  is  apparently  very  old,  the  cnanir^l  being  sometimes  cut 
in  the  rocks,  and  at  one  place  tunnelled  through  them.  For  the  most 
part,  however,  it  is  formed  of  strong  masonry,  sometimes  six  or  eight 
feet  high,  and  faced  with  ashlar;  the  waterway  varying  from  eighteen 
inches  to  two  feet  in  breadth,  and  from  a  foot  tQ  ty^Q  W^^  ^  half  Ibet  ii; 


238 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


[Chap. 


depth,  lined  throughout  witli  strong  cement,  and  covered  with  loose 
slabs  of  stone.  Under  the  Pools  the  water  flowed  in  stoneware  pipes, 
with  air-holes  at  intervals,  to  relieve  the  pressure. 

There  were,  moreover,  according  t  >  Mr.  Drake,  four  other  aqueducts 
connected  witli  the  Pools  and  the  Valley  ot  Urtas:  one  which  entered 
Jerusalem  near  the  Jo])pa  Gate,  at  a  high  level;  another,  now  quite 
ruined,  which  stretched  if  the  smu  direction;  a  third  to  supply 
villa;'  '  to  the  et-stward;  v- |;ii<  ii  i  >urth  was  led,  apparently  by 
Herod,  towards  his  lamou!:'  !V)rtri'is«'  anc;  city  of  Ilerodium,  now  the 
Frank  Mountain,  to  water  tiio  yarn  <i8  with  which  he  beautified  the 
neighborhood.  The  officers  u  tlie  F  lostine  Survey  think  that  all 
these  gigantic  works  date  from  tlie  lioiian  period.  Some  of  them, 
indeed,  are  very  probably  the  identical  conduits  of  which  Josephus 
speaks,  as  built  by  Pontius  Pilate  with  money  taken  from  the  Temple 
treasury,  and  therefore  sacred,  as  "corban,"  or  devoted  to  God.  This 
effort,  however,  to  benclit  the  city  involved  Pilate  in  more  hatred  than 
all  his  other  acts,  it  being  regarded  as  a  sacrilegious  robbery  of  Church 
funds.  But,  though  Roman  governors  may  have  added  to  works  they 
found  already  in  existence,  and  perhaps  repaired  dilapidations  whicn 
may  have  been  extensive,  why  should  Josephus  have  mentioned  Pilate 
as  having  made  only  one  aqueduct,  which  was  an  undertaking  so  much 
less  magnificent  than  the  Pools,  if  they  themselves  were  his  work  or 
that  of  any  other  Roman?  From  the  roofing  of  portions  of  the  aque- 
ducts with  half- formed  arches,  and  from  the  look  of  the  fragments  of 
the  great  one,  near  Jerusalem,  being  so  much  more  ancient  than  the 
Roman  style,  I  cannot  refrain  f^om  the  belief  that  though  the  contem- 
poraries of  our  Lord  may  have  repaired  or  added  to  existing  structures, 
the  glory  of  hewing  oul  the  ^  uge  Pools  belongs  to  the  great  Hebrew 
king,  Solomon,  and  that  they  form  a  splendid  relic  of  his  peaceful 
greatness. 

Such  works  for  the  supply  of  water  to  Jerusalem  and  the  countrj'- 
east  of  Urtas  may  well  excite  astonishment  in  the  present  condition  of 
Palestine.  It  has  been  noticed,  however,  by  Canon  Tristram  that 
aqueducts  are  found  not  only  in  a  district  like  this,  where  nearness  to 
the  capital  might  explain  their  presence,  but  in  places  which  have,  for 
ages,  been  unpeopled  and  desolate.  They  span  in  many  places  the  pro- 
found gorges  between  Jerusalem,  and  Quarantania;  we  find  traces  of 
them  at  Engedi,  on  the  Dea  Sea ;  they  are  still  visible  at  different  parts 
of  the  dismal  wilderness  of  Judaea.  Indeed,  even  in  the  v/adys  at  the 
south-west  corner  of  the  Dead  Sea  we  find  traces  of  carefully-cemented 
conduits,  once  supplying  cisterns  which  are  still  perfect,  and  may  some 
day  restore  fertility,  after  ages  of  neglect,  to  regions  which  need  only 
water  to  blossom  like  the  ros^.^ 

1  Pict.  Palfttine,  i.  14}. 


XVII.l 


THE  COUNTRY   NORTH  OF  HEBRON. 


289 


The  villri»c  cf  Ui'^as  lies  nea^-  the  bottom  of  the  valley,  about  a  mile 
east  of  the  Poold,  clinging,  in  ruin,  to  the  south  slope,  which  is  both 
Bteep  and  bare,  like  all  the  "  ?enery  around.  There  are  still  some 
inhabitants,  who  live,  for  the  iiiost  part,  in  hovels  on  the  hill-side,  unfit 
foi  buman  dwellings.  A  ^ew  trees  grow  amidst  the  houses,  which  are 
flat-roofed,  and  roughly  built  of  stones,  but  showing  every  stage  of 
dilwpidatijn.  Except  for  the  climate,  such  a  place  would,  in  I'act,  be 
uninhabitable.  Yet  this  seems  to  have  been  the  site  of  Etam,  where 
Solomon  had  his  royal  gardens,  with  streams  running  through  them. 
Rehoboam,  also,  thought  Etam  worth  fortifying,  along  with  Bethle- 
hem and  Tekoa.i  There  are  still,  indeed,  the  foundations  of  a  square 
tower — a  low,  broad  wall  of  large  squared  stones ;  and  V^  rocks  are  in 
some  places  hewn  and  scarped:  evidences  of  a  militaj /  ].  t,  with  its 
defences,  in  olden  clays.  One  attraction  yet  exists  w;  'cli  ..y  account 
for  the  importance  once  attached  to  a  spot  now  so  .ai.,-rable:  a  foun- 
tain sends  forth  an  abundant  supply  of  fine  wai,..-,  wi  ich  flows  in  a 
bright,  murmuring  stream,  all  the  year  round,  down  he  valley.  In 
such  a  thirsty  land,  it  may  well  have  delighted  b  b  Solomon  and  his 
foolish  son,  and  no  doubt  it  might,  even  now,  if  uti::Zf  d  as  it  should  be, 
make  Wady  Urtas  a  paradise.  It  is,  however,  used  to  some  extent, 
for  along  its  sides  aro  gardens  of  citrons,  pomegranates,  figs,  oranges, 
and  even  pears,  apples,  and  cherries,  intermingled  with  plots  in  which 
grow  cauliflowers,  turnips,  potatoes,  and  other  vegetables.  Shut  in  by 
steep  slopes  of  grey  rock,  which  are  sprinkled  at  one  spot  with  the 
dilapidated  hovels  of  the  village,  this  greenery  is  all  the  more  delight- 
ful on  that  account,  and  serves  to  show  what  the  place  may  have  been 
in  Solomon's  day. 

Insect  life  was  already  quickening  in  the  sun,  and  ants  were  busy,  as 
always  in  warm  weather,  at  their  multifarious  occupations.  Was  it 
here  that  the  Wise  Man  noticed  them,  and  wrote,  "Go  to  the  ant,  thou 
sluggard:  consider  her  ways,  and  be  wise;  which  having  no  chief,^ 
overseer,  or  ruler,  provideth  her  meat  in  the  summer,  and  gathereth 
her  food  in  the  harvest"?^  Modern  science  has  felt  a  difficulty  in 
these  words,  dnce  the  ant  does  not  live  on  grain,  but  on  flesh,  insects, 
and  the  sweet  sap  or  other  exudations  of  trees,  which  it  could  not  store 
up  for  winter  use,  'uid  since  it  sleeps  during  winter,  in  all  but  very  hot 
climates.  The  truth  is,  we  must  not  look  in  Scripture  for  science, 
which  was  unknown  in  early  ages,  for  it  is  n  jt  the  purpose  of  Revela- 
tion to  teach  it,  and  the  sacred  writers,  in  this  as  in  other  matters  of  a 
similar  kind,  were  left  to  write  according  to  v;he  popular  belief  of  their 
day.  We  fi[nd  the  same  idea  in  another  passage  of  the  same  book. 
"  There  be  four  things  which  are  little  upon  the  earth,  but  they  are 
exceeding  wise :  the  ants  are  a  people  not  strong,  yet  they  prepare 
12Chron.xi.6.  2  Or  "Judge."  8  Prov.  vi.  6-8. 


240 


THE   HOLY  LAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


CChar 


their  meat  in  the  summer."  *  It  was  universally  believed  in  antiquity 
that  ants  did  so,  and  even  Dr.  Thomson,  in  "  The  Land  and  the  Book,^' 
and  Neil,  in  his  "  Palestine  Explored,"  cling  to  the  idea.*  Ants  do, 
indeed,  fill  their  nests  with  many  things,  but  it  is  to  pad  them  warmly, 
and  keep  themselves  from  the  damp  earth ;  and  hence,  though  they  are 
undoubtedly  assiduous  in  harvest-time  in  carrying  off  grains  of  corn, 
chaff,  grass,  seeds,  and  vegetable  husks  of  all  kinds,  they  do  so  to  make 
their  underground  rooms  comfortable,  not  to  lay  up  food  for  a  season 
during  which,  in  many  parts,  they  eat  nothing.  Anyone  may  see  the 
proof  of  this  for  himself  by  opening  an  ants'  nest.  He  will  find  every- 
thing to  make  it  warm,  but  the  supposed  "  stores "  are  left  quite 
untouched. 

It  is  not  certain,  indeed,  that  in  Palestine  ants  hibernate,  for  they 
may  be  seen — at  least  in  the  warm  district  round  the  Dead  Sea — busy 
on  the  tamarisk-trunks,  seeking  their  food,  even  in  January.  The  mis- 
take is  similar  to  t'iat  which  prevails  very  generally,  even  in  our  own 
day,  as  to  ants'  eggs,  which  is  the  name  popularly  given,  both  in  Eng- 
land and  Germany,  to  the  pupse,  or  ants  in  process  of  transformation 
into  the  perfect  insect.  They  then  closely  resemble  grains  of  corn,  and 
are  carried  out  daily  by  their  nurses  to  enjoy  the  heat  of  the  sun,  and 
taken  in  again  ^  .^ore  evening.  Who  that  has  broken  into  an  ants' 
nest,  by  accident  or  intentionally,  has  not  seen  the  workers  rushing  off 
with  these  white,  egg-like  bouies,  in  trembling  haste,  to  bear  them  to 
a  place  of  security?  But  if  we  nowadays  make  a  popular  mistake  in 
thmking  these  to  be  eggs,  how  much  more  natural  was  it  that  errone- 
ous ideas,  on  another  point  of  ant-life,  should  obtain  three  thousand 
years  ago  I  Mr.  Neil's  experience,  indeed,  shows  how  easily  a  mistake 
might  arise.  While  encamped,  about  the  middle  of  March,  near 
Tiberias,  on  the  Lake  of  Galilee,  he  noticed  a  line  of  large,  black  ants 
marching  towards  their  nest,  each  laden  with  a  grain  of  barley,  larger 
and  longer  than  itself,  so  that  they  looked  like  a  moving  multitude  of 
barleycorns.  This  line,  he  found,  extended  to  a  spot  where  some  of 
the  corn  for  his  beasts  had  been  spilt  by  the  mule-drivers,  or  had  fallen 
from  the  nosebags,  and  was  now  being  appropriated  by  the  ants.  That 
they  should  carry  it  off,  seemed  at  once  to  justify  the  supposition  that 
they  were  doing  so  to  la^r  up  food  for  the  winter,  and  yet,  as  I  have 
said,  nothing  is  more  certain  than  that  ants  do  not  eat  dried  barley  or 
any  other  dry  grain. 
I  Prov.  XXX.  24, 25.  9  Land  ani  the  Book,  p.  609;  PaletHne  Explored,  p.  7(J. 


XVIII.] 


URTAS. 


241 


CHAPTER  XVin. 


URTAS. 


In  the  valley  of  Urtas,  and  on  the  hills,  flocks  r^  sheep  and  goats, 
mingled  together,  were  feeding,  as  Laban's  flocks  used  to  do  long  ago 
under  the  care  of  Jacob;*  the  sheep  of  course,  all  broad-tailed;  tluit  is, 
with  a  great  mass  of  lat,  in  the  middle  of  which  the  tail  runs  down 
like  a  dividing  line,  projecting  from  it  at  the  lower  end.  There  were 
also  a  few  camels,  and  some  cattle,  so  that  on  the.se  apparently  barren 
hill-sides  there  was  nourishment  for  even  the  larger  animals.  The 
gardens  ceased  before  the  pasturage  began;  the  gravelly  soil  soon 
drinking  up  the  sweet  rivulet  which  had  been  brawling  over  the  peb- 
bles and  stones 

Tekoa,  and  also  the  Frame  Mountain,  where  Herod  the  Great  was 
buried,  could  both  be  visited  better  from  Urtas  than  from  any  other 
point.  It  is  a  steady  climb  from  the  bottom  of  the  wady  to  the  table- 
land above;  the  track  leading  to  the  right,  and  the  pleasant  compan- 
ionship of  the  old  aqueducts,  still  supplying  Jerusalem,  brightens  part 
of  the  journey.  At  one  place,  a  spring  pours  out  through  two  mouths 
under  a  canopy,  its  waters  in  part  supplying  Bethlehem;  water-cnr- 
riers  were  fiUing  their  skins  at  it,  and  carrying  them  to  the  town. 
This  stream,  no  doubt,  was  once  connected  with  the  aqueduct  that  led 
from  Solomon's  Pools  to  the  forecourts  of  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem. 
The  aqueduct  is  still  perfect  for  some  distance;  its  bed  measures  about 
a  foot  deep  and  the  same  in  width,  with  a  covering  of  flat  stones, 
which,  however,  was  gone  in  some  places,  giving  man  and  beast  a 
highly-prized  opportunity  of  quenching  their  thirst.  The  conduit, 
was,  in  fact,  exactly  Lke  that  which  1  had  seen  on  the  north  side 
of  the  Pools,  and  from  which  I  had  drunk;  indeed,  it  was  a  continua- 
tion of  it. 

The  hills  between  Urtas  and  El-Fureidis — a  diminutive  of  the  Ara- 
bic word  for  Paradise — are  very  desolate  and  scorched,  but  had  once 
been  carefully  terraced  and  cultivated.  The  mountain  honored  by 
Herod  as  the  site  of  his  fortress  rises  steep  and  round — 300  or  400  feet 
above  the  plain — like  the  cone  of  a  volcano  from  which  the  top  has 
been  cut  away.  Yet  it  is  only  190  feet  higher  than  the  village  of 
Urtas,  so  that  if  the  road  had  ascended  for  part  of  the  way,  there  must 
have  been  a  descent  for  the  rest  of  it — the  beginning  of  the  slope 
towards  the  Jordan.  This  isolated  height,  Josephus  tells  us,  Herod 
raised  still  higher,  or,  at  least,  filled  up  and  trimmed  to  suit  his  design, 
erecting  on  the  flat  space  at  the  top  a  great  Roman  castle,  with  rounded 

1  Gen.  XXX.  85. 

16 


242 


THE   HOLY  LAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


[ORAV. 


towers,  and  providing  within  it  ii  tniignifioent  palace  for  liimselC.  The 
fortress  was  reached  by  a  wonderful  stairway  of  hewn  stone,  200  steps 
high.  At  the  foot  of  tlio  hill  other  gran<l  palaces  were  built  for  him- 
self and  his  friends,  and  the  whole  ulain  around  was  covered  with 
houses,  forming  a  large  town  in  the  Italian  style,  with  all  the  advan- 
tages of  Western  civilization  and  refinement;  the  castle  protecting  the 
whole. 

The  name  of  "the  Little  Paradise,"  which  the  place  still  bears,  may 
have  arisen  from  the  beauty  of  the  gardens,  no  less  than  of  the  town, 
for,  as  I  have  said,  Herod  brought  a  plentiful  stream  from  the  Pools 
of  Solomon  to  irrigate  the  soil  and  supply  every  want  of  the  com- 
munity, in  an  age  when  public  and  private  baths  were  considered  a 
first  necessity  of  life.  He  had  defended  himself  bravely  against 
the  Parthians  at  this  8[)ot,  when  pursued  by  Antigoims,  and  had 
been  forced  to  flee  from  Masada,  where  his  brother  Joseph  had 
command,  and  to  seek  refuge,  first  in  Egypt  and  then  in  Rome.  On 
his  triumphant  return,  however,  he  resolved  to  fortify  a  spot  not  only 
dear  to  him  from  the  memory  of  his  escape  from  great  peril,  but  also 
of  high  importance  as  commanding  the  gorges  towards  the  Dead  Sea. 
Here,  also,  he  was  at  last  buried  with  great  pomp,^  his  body  being 
carried  to  its  last  resting- place'''  from  Jericho,  to  which  he  had  gone 
very  shortly  before  his  death  from  the  warm  baths  of  Callirrhoe,  on  the 
other  side  of  the  Dead  Sea. 

A  steep  ascent  of  ten  minutes,  on  foot,  brings  one  to  the  top  of  the 
hill,  where  the  flat  surface  of  the  ground  forms  a  space  about  750  feet 
round.  The  whole  of  this  is  enclosed  by  the  ruins  of  a  circular  fort- 
ress of  hewn  stones,  with  four  massive  round  towers,  standing,  one  at 
each  of  the  cardinal  points.  Inside,  the  ground  slopes  to  a  hollow  in 
the  centre,  as  if  the  walls  had  been  built  on  an  artificial  mound.  There 
are  no  escarpments  on  the  hill,  as  on  that  of  Samaria,  for  though  there 
are  remains  of  terraces  round  the  lower  part  of  it,  they  have  evidently 
been  rather  for  cultivation  than  defense.  The  tradition  of  the  locality 
is  that  Herod  was  buried  at  the  foot  of  the  hill,  beside  the  great  pub- 
lic reservoir;  and  a  mound  which  may  one  day  repay  a  search,  stands 
now  in  the  centre  of  the  long-dried  pool.  After  the  fall  of  Jerusalem, 
the  Roman  general  took  Herodium  without  resistance,  and  with  this 
incident  it  passes  from  history.  Since  then,  however,  the  legend  arose 
from  which  it  got  its  present  name  in  Western  Europe — the  Frank 
Mountain — the  Crusaders  being  fabled  to  have  held  it  aj];^ainst  the  Sar- 
acens for  forty  years  after  Jerusalem  had  been  wrested  from  them. 
But  as  Irby  and  Mangles  remark,^  "the  place  is  too  small  ever  to  have 
contained  half  the  number  of  men  which  would  have  been  requisite  to 
make  any  stand  in  such  a  country:  and  the  ruins,  though  they  might 

1  Qelkle,  Lifa  and  Worda  qf  Christ,  i.  80-48.    2  Ibid.,  i.  248.   8  TravOt,  p.  840. 


I 


kviti.j 


\3MAA. 


U^ 


be  those  of  a  spot  onoe  defended  by  tlie  Franks,  appear  to  Imvo  had  an 
earlier  origin,  as  the  architeoture  Hooins  to  1k)  Uoinan." 

The  view  from  the  top  is  very  wide  towards  the  north,  but  less  so 
towards  the  south  and  west.  The  Mount  of  Olives  stands  out  as  if 
elose  at  hand,  and  on  eaeh  side  of  it  the  eye  notes  hill  beyond  hill, 
eaeh  a  venerable  site.  To  the  east  and  south  the  landscape  is  especi- 
ally interesting,  as  that  of  the  region  consecrated  by  the  story  of  David 
and  St.  .John  the  Baptist.  To  the  south  stretches  a  desolate  succession 
of  earth -waves,  sinking  towards  both  south  and  east;  their  color  dark 
grey;  their  outline  relieved  by  no  tree  or  verdure,  for  the  sparse 
growth  to  be  seen  here  and  there  is  dried  up  till  it  is  brown,  instead  of 
green.  Ruins  on  the  hills  add  artificial  to  natural  desolation,  and  the 
sense  of  this  is  deepened  by  the  knowledge  that  these  ridges  of  forbid- 
ding barrenness  are,  in  many  cases,  the  walls  of  yawning  ravines,  into 
whose  depths  the  sunshine  falls  only  in  a  passing  gleam,  as  it  crosses 
the  narrow  opening  above.  To  the  east,  the  same  desert  loneliness 
and  lifeless  silence  prevail,  till  the  eye  rests  on  the  blue  waters  of  the 
Dead  Sea,  3,000  feet  below  where  you  stand.  Near  you,  the  long 
undulations  of  rock,  broken  into  countless  gorges  and  small  vallevs,  are 
like  nothing  so  much  as  rudely  crumpled,  coarse,  dark  greyish-brown 

{)aper.  You  have  immediatfly  before  you  the  home  of  the  viper,  the 
ocust,  the  wild  bee,  the  fox,  the  jackal,  the  partridge,  and  the  wild 
goat;  for  ages  it  has  been  shunned  by  man.  Beyond  this  foreground, 
still  looking  eastwards,  light,  pinkish-yellow  hills  succeed,  ridge 
beyond  ridge,  sinking  ever  lower  and  lower,  till  through  their  clefts 
the  Dead  Sea  carries  the  eye  across  its  deep  blue  to  the  light  red  or 
purple  mountains  of  Moab,  rising  some  hundreds  of  feet  above  the  hills 
on  this  side,  and  seamed  into  wide  ravines  by  the  torrents  of  innumer- 
able winters. 

Over  this  wild,  inhospitable  region,  David  wandered  when  a  shep- 
herd, for  no  landscape  in  Palestine  is  so  rocky  or  barren  as  not  to  afford 
pasture  to  wandering  flocks  of  sheep  and  goats,  either  on  the  slopes  or 
in  the  ravines.  Here,  also,  he  lived  with  his  400  outlaws,  when  huntef' 
like  a  partri-^^^e  by  Saul;  hiding  in  the  caves  so  numerous  in  every 
ravine,  or  in  o.  e  or  other  of  the  countless  valleys  or  gorges  which  cut 
up  the  face  of  the  country  into  so  tangled  a  network  or  labyrinth  that 
the  whole  district  has  been  a  favorite  iiaunt,  in  all  ages,  of  those  who, 
from  any  cause,  desired  security  from  the  interference  of  i\v)  oulstiuo 
world.  Here,  also,  St.  John  the  Baptist  spent  long  years  of  solitary 
musing  on  the  things  of  God,  till  his  soul  kindled  into  iiresistible 
ardor,  which  drove  him  forth  among  men  to  plead  with  t'lein  to  pre- 

f)are  for  the  coming  of  the  Messiah.     During  the  hot  months  it  is  a 
and  of  scorpions,  lizards,  and  snakes,  so  that  his  experience  readily 
supplied  him  with  a  comparison  for  his  wicked  contemporaries,  whom 


244 


THE  HOLY   t.AND  Al^D  THE  BIBLE. 


tOHAP. 


he  denounced  as  "a  generation  of  vipers."^  "Wild  bees  make  their 
combs  in  the  hollows  of  the  hmestone  rocks;  the  aromatic  thymes, 
mints,  and  other  labiate  plants,  sprinkled  over  the  face  of  the  wilder- 
ness, furnishing  them  with  honey,  which  is  more  plentiful  in  the  wil- 
derness of  Judaea  than  in  any  other  part  of  Palestine.  They  thus  pro- 
vided for  him  a  main  article  of  hiSidiet,  while  in  one  wady  or  another, 
or  in  some  cleft,  there  was  always  water  enough  to  quench  his  thirst. 
Locusts,  the  other  article  of  his  food,  are  never  wanting  in  this  region, 
and,  indeed,  are  to  this  day  eaten  by  the  Arabs  in  the  south-east  of 
Judaea,  the  very  district  where  John  lived ;  by  those  of  the  Jordan 
valley,  and  by  some  tribes  in  Gilead.  They  stew  them,  as  we  have 
seen,  with  butter,  and  travellers,  say — for  I  myself  have  never  tasted 
them — that  they  are  very  like  shrimps  in  flavor. 

Locusts,  thus  alwaya  iound  in  the  wilderness  of  Judaea,  multiply 
sometimes,  as  every  reader  of  the  Bible  knows,  into  vast  swarrhs,  and 
betake  themselves  to  the  cultivated  parts  of  the  country.  Canon 
Tristram  came  on  such  an  invading  host  at  the  banks  of  the  Jordan,  in 
1864 — 5.  "  The  swarms,  then  in  a  larva  or  wingless  state,"  he  tells 
us,  "  marched  steadily  up  the  trees  which  fringed  the  river,  denuding 
them  of  every  strip  of  foliage,  and  even  of  the  tender  bark,  not  sparing 
the  resinous  tamarislc.  As  they  stripped  the  twigs  they  marched 
onwards,  pushed  b^  the  hordes  behind,  and  fell  by  myriads  into  the 
rapid  stream,  where  they  were  at  once  eaten  in  thousands  by  the 
fisn."*  The  Rev.  Canon  Holland  also  gives  us  a  vivid  description  of 
a  visitation  of  locusts  which  he  encountered.  "On  April  5th,  when 
we  were  encamped  at  the  fort  of  Jebel  Musa  (Mount  Sinai),"  he  says, 
"  the  locusts  were  first  seen  by  us.  A  light  breeze  from  the  north- 
west was  blowing,  and  they  came  up,  in  its  face,  from  the  south-east, 
flying  steadily  against  it,  many  of  them  at  a  great  height.  They  soon 
increased  in  number,  and  as  their  glazed  wings  glanced  in  the  sun, 
they  had  the  appearance  of  a  snow-storm.  Many  settled  on  the 
ground,  which  was  soon,  in  many  places,  quite  yellow  with  them,  and 
every  blade  of  green  soon  disappeared.  For  two  days  the  flight  passed 
over  our  heads,  undiminished  in  numbers.  They  did  not  appear  to  be 
able  to  fly  much  against  the  wind,  their  wings  being  blown  across  if 
they  got  thei]*  tail  to  leeward,  and  then  they  came  spinning  down  to 
the  ground;  when  they  alighted  they  always  faced  the  wind.  On  the 
third  morning,  the  flight  had  diminished  much  in  numbers,  but  many 
were  still  passing  over,  and  as  we  walked  along,  clouds  of  them  rose 
before  us.  They  were  difficult  to  catch,  except  in  the  early  morning, 
when  they  seemed  benumbed  with  cold,  before  the  sun  had  risen. 
We  found  them  all  over  the  peninsula,  wherever  we  went." 

"In  vain,"  says  the  same  writer,  "the  Arabs  in  charge  of  the  con- 

1  Matt.  lii.  1, 5-7 ;  Luke  iii.  3,  7.    2  Nat.  Hist.qf  Bible,  p.  314. 


in 
in 

be< 


XVUIJ 


URTAS. 


245 


bon- 


vent  gardens  beat  iron  pans,  and  shouted,  and  brushed  them  away  from 
the  beds,  with  palm-leaves;  thej  swarmed  in,  till  every  green  thing 
was  eaten." 

In  Palestine  locusts,  by  means  of  their  ovipositors,  lay  their  eggs, 
before  the  rainy  season  begins,  in  holes  and  cracks  of  the  earth;  and 
these,  if  they  have  escaped  their  numerous  enemies,  are  hatched  in 
spring,  to  the  number  of  one  hundred  or  more  for  each  motlier-locust. 
In  April  and  May  the  insects  are  as  large  as  flies,  and  cover  the  earth 
with  a  black,  moving  mass  of  larvae,  such  as  Canon  Tristra  describes, 
even  more  hurtful  than  the  full-grown  insect.  In  two  months  they 
are  four  times  as  large  as  in  May,  and,  having  rapidly  grown  to  the 
size  of  the  common  grasshopper,  march  on  in  a  straight  line,  crawling 
at  first,  but  afterwards  leaping,  as  they  get  older;  their  path  like  the 
Garden  of  Eden  before  them,  and  behind  them  like  a  desolate  wilder- 
ness.^ It  is  as  if  "  a  fire  devoured "  everything  green  as  they 
advanced;  aud  their  track,  when  they  have  passed,  is  as  if  utterly 
burned  up.^  Fields  of  standing  wheat  and  barley,  vineyards,  mulberry 
orchards,  groves  of  olive,  fig,  and  other  trees,  are  in  a  few  hours 
stripped  of  every  green  blade  and  leaf,  the  very  bark  being  often 
destroyed,  so  that,  as  Joel  says,  "the  twigs  are  made  white."^  Tiiey 
cover  the  face  of  the  ground,  as  of  old,  during  the  Plagues  of  Egypt, 
so  that  the  earth  is  hidden  by  them,*  and,  as  Canon  Holland  says,  they 
sweep  on  in  such  numbers  that  they  take  days  to  pass.  In  1881,  250 
tons  of  liAjusts  were  destroyed  by  the  English  in  Cyprus,  each  ton  con- 
taining over  90,000,000  of  these  pests.^  When  they  fly,  the  light 
shines  like  a  yellow  haze  through  the  swarm.  Quiet  at  night,  they 
weigh  down  the  bushes  and  hedges  till  the  sun  revives  them,  and  then 
they  set  forward  again  on  their  awful  progress.®  They  have  no  king, 
as  the  Book  of  Proverbs  tells  us,'^  "yet  they  go  forth,  all  of  them,"  as 
in  an  ordered  march.  Nothing  turns  them  aside.  As  in  the  Egyptian 
plague,  "they  fill  the  houses"  of  rich  and  poor  alike;®  "they  run  up 
any  wall  that  opposes  them,  they  climb  up  upon  the  houses,  they  enter 
in  at  the  windows,"  so  that  in  many  cases,  as  at  Nazareth  in  1865,  the 
inhabitants  have  to  give  up  tiieir  dwellings  to  them.  Impelled  by 
blind  instinct,  they  do  not  even  seek  to  avoid  any  pool  or  stream  in 
their  path,  but  walk  or  leap  steadily  on,  and  are  either  entirely  swept 
away  or  gradually  form  a  bridge  over  which  those  behind  may  cross 
in  safety.  The  dead  bodies,  in  such  cases,  often  cause  a  pestilence,  as 
in  the  visitation  mentioned  in  Joel.® 

When  they  have  acquired  wings,  which  they  do  in  June,  or  the 
beginning  of  July,i®they  naturally  betake  themselves  to  the  air,  through 

1  Joel  li.  3.  2  Joel  H.  8.  3  Deiit.  xxviil.  38,  39,  42:  Ps.  Ixxvill.  46;  Joel  i.  7.  4  Exod.  x  5. 
6  Gelkle,  Houm  wUh  thf  Bible,  Iv.  157.  6  Nah.  111.  17.  7  Piov.  xxx.  27.  8  Exod.  x.  6:  Joel  II.  9. 
9  Joti  11.  20.  10  Wetzstein  (Delltzsch,  Hoh>.  «.  Pred.,  p.  446)  says  that  as  a  rule  the  locusts  are 
seen  r^reepiiiK  about  In  Syria  In  the  middle  of  March,  and  develop  so  quickly  that  they  begin  to 
reproduce  by  the  middle  of  April. 


m 


THE  HOLY  tAJJD  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


tCflAf. 


which  they  pp.ss  like  a  cloud,^  with  a  noise  which  no  one  can  forget 
who  has  once  heard  it.^ 

By  the  Mosaic  Law  locusts  were  reckoned  "clean,"  so  that  St.  John 
the  Baptist,  a  strict  Jew,  could  lawfully  eat  them.  Winged  creatures 
that  go  on  four  legs  were  forbidden,  Out  the  Hebrews  might  eat  such 
as  had  two  legs  rising  above  the  four  feet,  for  the  purpose  of  leaping. 
"Even  these  of  them  ye  may  eat,  the  locust  after  his  kind,  and  the  bald 
locust  after  his  kind,  and  the  chargol  [another  kind  of  locust]  after  his 
kind,  and  the  giasshopper  after  his  kind."^  There  are  no  fewer  than 
nine  words  in  the  Bible  for  the  locust  in  its  different  stages,  or  in  its 
different  varieties:  some  of  these  words,  however,  are  incorrectly  trans- 
lated in  our  English  version.  Thus  the  "beetle"  in  Leviticus  xi.*  is  a 
kind  of  locust,  and  so  the  "grasshopper"  in  the  same  verse.  The 
"palmer- worm  "^  is,  perhaps,  the  migratory  locust  in  its  larva  state,  and 
so,  apparently,  are  the  "cankerworm"^  and  the  "  caterpillar." '' 

When  these  terrible  destroyers  visit  a  district,  great  iires  are  lighted 
to  keep  them  from  the  fields  or  gardens;  ditches  are  dug,  into  which 
they  walk,  and  can  thus  be  destroyed,  and  birds  follow  and  feed  on  them 
greedily.  They  are  often  finally  banished,  for  the  season,  by  a  con- 
tinuance of  cold  rainy  weather,  with  moist  air,  which  is  fatal  both  to 
the  eggs  in  the  groumi,  and  to  the  insects  in  their  various  stages.  The 
wind,  also,  is  not  unfrequently  a  deliverer.  Flying  swarms  are  power- 
less against  it,  becoming  an  imago  of  helplessness  used  by  the  Psalmist 
when  he  says,  "I  am  tossed  up  and  down  as  the  locust."^  Hence  they 
are  often  carried  into  the  ^ea,  or  into  rivers,  as  in  the  case  of  the  locust 
plague  on  the  Nile,  or  the  visitation  in  Joel  ;^  their  putrefying  bodies,  as 
I  have  said,  not  seldom  causing  pestilence. 

That  David  should  have  roamed  as  shepherd  and  outlaw  over  the 
region  south  of  the  Frank  Mountain,  led,  in  the  age  of  the  Crusades,  to 
the  belief  that  the  Cave  of  Khureitun,  in  a  wady  about  a  mile  south 
of  the  site  of  Herodium,  was  no  other  than  the  famous  Cave  of  Adul- 
1am,  which,  however,  as  we  have  seen,  has  been  discovered  further  to 
the  west.^^  The  ride  to  Khureitun  carries  us  deeper  into  the  utter  bar- 
renness of  the  wilderness  of  Judaja,  unrelieved  by  a  tree  or  a  shrub; 
the  few  tui'ts  of  dwarf  plants  showing  almost  the  only  visible  life  in  the 
thousands  of  white  snails  which  feed  on  them,  and  are,  in  their  turn, 
the  food  of  the  larks  and  other  desert  biids.  The  whole  country  is 
found  to  be  ploughed  by  the  rains  of  millenniums  into  countless  gorges 
running  in  all  directions:  occasionally  mere  precipitous  gaps  in  the  solt 
chalky  marl ;  sometimes  white  valleys,  divided  from  each  other  only 
by  towering  walls  of  reck;  but  altogether  a  bewildering  labyrinth, 
across  which  no  direct  travel  is  possible. 

""    "    ■,  '       .      I 

is  also  translated  "caterpillar"  (Ps.  cv.  34, 
Joel  ii.  20.    10  See  ante,  p.  108. 


:> 


3  Lev.  xi.  20,  22.  4  Lev.  xl.  22.  The  werd  occurs  onl 
in  this  verse.  5  Joel.  1.  4,  &c.  6  Joel.  1. 4,  &c.  Th 
c).     7  Ps.  Ixxviii.  46.     8  Ps.  cix.  28.    9  Exod.  x.  19: 


'1 
is 

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ith, 


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I 

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& 

o 

B 
B 

a" 

99 


CD 


a 


xvra.i 


URTAS. 


247 


i 


Khureitun  is  said  to  have  received  its  name  from  a  hermit  of  the 
fourth  century,  St.  Chariton,  who  took  up  his  abode  in  this  valley  as 
an  anchorite,  in  gratitude  for  his  having  escaped  from  robbers  while 
travelling  through  it.  I*  was  a  wild  place  in  which  to  choose  a  home, 
but  in  those  days  of  asceilc  piety,  the  more  savage  a  locality,  the 
greater  its  attractions.  Already,  in  the  time  of  Christ,  there  were, 
perhaps,  4,000  such  anchorites  in  Palestine,  living  in  colonies,  however; 
not  alone.  They  had,  perhaps,  borrowed  their  idea  of  an  isolated  life, 
devoted  to  the  strict  observation  of  Rabbinical  precepts,  from  the 
TherapeutaB  of  Egypt,  although  the  East  has  always  favored  such  a 
form  of  religious  zeal.  We  hear  of  one  Judas  who  lived  as  a  hermit 
somewhere  in  Judeea,  about  110  years  before  Christ,  and  from  his  day 
they  multiplied,  till  after  tlie  fall  of  Jerusalem  they  were  to  be  found 
everywhere,  but  especiall}'  to  tiie  east. 

With  such  modes  of  thought  prevailing  among  numbers  of  the 
intensely  religious,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  tliat  there  v  ere  ascetics 
in  the  Christian  Church  from  the  first,  or  that  it  is  related  of  St.  James, 
the  brother  of  our  Lord,  that  throughout  his  life  he  followed  the  self- 
denying  rules  of  the  Nazarites.  In  the  prosecution  under  Decius — in 
the  middle  of  the  third  v.  juLury — multitudes  fled  to  the  deserts  and 
mountains  to  escape  the  stem;  imitating  the  example  of  St.  John  the 
Baptist  and  others  of  Christ  3  day,  and  adding  seclusion  from  the  world, 
for  the  purposes  of  reiigiouL  meditation,  to  the  mortified  life  then  much 
in  favor.  Before  long  this  itw  form  of  self-sacrifice  became  almost  a 
craze,  so  that  the  deserts  I  ordering  on  Egypt,  and  those  in  or  near 
Palestine,  abounded  with  hermits  or  monks;  the  hermits  living  each 
in  a  separate  cell,  and  passi.ig  a  solitary  life ;  the  monks,  as  members 
of  a  settlement  who  lived  in  common.^  The  caves  v  ich  abound  in 
Palestine  were  used  in  early  ages  as  dwellings;  some  |  s  of  the  coun- 
try, as  we  have  seen,  showing  this  rude  mode  of  life  ^  i  now.  They 
were  not,  however,  very  largely  employed  for  this  pui  se  by  the  Jews, 
though  a  cave,  used  as  a  store-house  or  manger,  was  often  connected 
with  the  dwelling.  They  were  mostly  reserved  for  mbs,  as  may  be 
seen  from  the  shelves  for  the  dead  hewn  out  in  thei^  des.  There  was 
very  little  land  that  was  not  rocky;  burial-ground  v  re  utiknown,  and 
everyone  could  so  easily  obtain  some  cave  in  wincli  to  lay  his  dead, 
that  the  cases  of  Rachel  and  Joseph  are  the  only  ones  in  which  we 
read  of  another  form  of  sepulture.  But  this  habit  had  in  great  meas- 
ure ceased  when  the  Jews  were  driven  from  their  native  land,  and  the 
caves,  so  far  as  shepherds  had  not  appropriated  them  for  folds,  were 
free  to  hermits  who  might  choose  to  make  them  a  dreary  home. 
Hence  St.  Chariton  lived  and  died  in  the  cave  now  Jorg  known  by  his 
name. 

I  Uitigltam,  Christ.  AtU.,  III.  SO, 


248 


THE   HOLY   LAND   AND  THE  BIBLE. 


(Chap. 


The  Wady  Kliureitun,  though  comparatively  broad  towards  the 
north,  soon  shrinks  into  a  narrow  gorge,  which  might  almost  be  called 
a  fissure  in  the  hills;  its  sides  towering  in  precipices  several  hundred 
feet  high.  The  layers  of  rock  are  perfectlj'^  level,  and  have  been 
weathered  and  worn  at  the  edges  till  a  steep  slope  of  fragments  has 
covered  up  their  face  to  a  good  height;  their  broad  bands  running 
along,  above,  like  the  walls  of  terraces.  High  up,  on  the  southern 
side,  stands  a  ruined  tower,  once  square,  and  above  and  below  it  are 
the  hovels  of  the  village  of  Khureitun,  which  cling  to  a  slope  so  steep 
and  so  entirely  unprotected  that  it  is  a  wonder  anyone  can  live  there. 
That  young  children,  at  least,  do  not  roll  down  the  abyss  at  the  very 
doors  of  the  cabins,  shows  that  they  must  be  able  to  hold  on  like  flies. 
The  mouth  of  the  cave  's  beyond  the  village,  and  considerably  lower; 
the  latter  standing  on  the  top  of  the  chft";  the  former  opening  from  its 
surface.  There  is  no  approach  to  the  cave,  except  by  a  narrow  ledge, 
from  which  you  look  down  to  the  bottom  of  the  gorge,  far  below  ;  and 
to  make  matters  worse  a  great  rock,  turned  on  edge,  almost  bars  you 
from  finally  reaching  it.  This  mv.st  be  got  over  as  it  best  can,  and 
then,  at  last,  a  narrow,  low,  and  dark  passage  winds  in  tediously,  with 
small  caves  on  each  side,  till  the  great  cave  is  reached. 

You  then  find  j^ourself  in  a  huge  cavern,  deep  in  the  hill,  120  feet 
long,  and  forty  feet  wide,  rising  in  great  natural  arches.  Woe  to  the 
traveller  who  has  not  taken  the  precaution  to  bring  lanterns  to  protect 
his  lights,  for  the  bats  which  make  this  dark  vacuity  their  home, 
scared  by  the  brightness,  dash  wildly  hither  and  thither,  in  thousands, 
driving  against  your  face,  and  especially  against  the  candles,  if  they 
are  bare.  In  that  case,  they  are  inevitably  extinguished  in  a  few 
moments.  F.  m  the  central  cave  numerous  passages  branch  out  in  all 
directions,  to  be  crossed,  very  soon,  by  others  at  right  angles,  the  whole 
forming  a  labyrinth  never  hitherto  fully  explored.  One  of  the  galleries 
is  100  feet  long,  and  all  are  about  four  feet  high,  and  three  feet  wide — 
partly  natural,  partly  artificial — and  all  on  one  level.  There  is,  how- 
ever, in  some  of  the  smaller  caves,  a  sloping  passage  which  leads  to  a 
series  of  chambers  underneath.  Niches  are  found  in  many  of  the  inner 
caverns,  and  fragments  of  stone  coffins,  and  funeral  urns,  show  that 
they  have  been  used  as  resting-places  for  the  dead,  as  well  as  for  cells 
of  the  living.     The  air  is  pure  and  good. 

This  vast  system  of  caverns  and  passages  was,  doubtless,  originally 
formed  by  water  absorbing  the  carbonic  acid  gas  in  the  limestone,  and 
thus  setting  free  the  particles  of  the  rock,  so  that  the  entire  hill  was 
gradually  hollowed  out  into  these  strange  natural  excavations.  They 
could  never  have  been  used  by  David  and  his  men  as  their  stronghold, 
if  only  on  account  of  the  dampness  and  the  want  of  light.     They 


XVIII] 


UHTAS. 


249 


1 


swarm,  moreover,  with  scorpions  during  tlie  liot  months;  and  as  to 
bats,  they  seem  the  lioadnniirters  of  the  tribe  for  this  district. 

The  ruins  of  Tekoa  lie  two  miles  to  the  south-west,  on  the  top  of  a 
hill,  about  2,000  (oet  above  the  sea.  Jjeaving  the  gorge  of  Khureitun, 
you  gradually  climb  to  the  plateau  of  the  wilderness,  over  which,  by  a 
track  now  rising,  now  sinking,  Tekoa  is  easily  reached.  Its  ruins, 
which  cover  the  broad  top  of  a  gently-sloping  hill  over  an  area  of  four 
or  five  acres,  consist  chieily  of  the  foundations  of  houses,  once  of 
squared  stones,  some  of  ihom  bevelled  in  the  Jewish  style.  The  wreck 
of  a  large  square  castle  rises  high  above  all;  and  there  are  also  some 
remains  of  a  Greek  church,  with  several  fragments  of  coin mn.s,  once 
sup])orting  its  roof,  and,  what  is  more  touching,  a  baj)tismal  font  of 
rose-colored  limestone,  which  might  easily  be  taken  for  marble. 
Numerous  cisterns  have  been  hewn  out  of  the  rock,  and  theio  is  i;  run- 
ning sj)ring  within  a  short  distance. 

This  was  the  spot  to  which  ,loab  sent  for  the  "wise  woman"  \/lio 
should  inveigle  David  to  recall  his  worthless  son,  Absalom.^  An. 
open  village  in  these  earlier  davs,  it  was  afterwards  fortified  by  Reho- 
boam,  in  his  an.xiety  to  keep  at  Ijast  tJjc  ♦'-.i,  neat  o^f  his  father's 
empire  still  left  him  after  the  defection  of  the  «' .  w  !^'ilx.'s;  and  here,  in 
the  closing  years  of  tho  Northern  Kingdom,  was  born  the  Prophet 
Amos.  That  he  wns  a  she[)lierd  may  be  easily  realized,  for  this  dis- 
trict is  now  the  territory  of  a  tribe  of  Arabs  whose  flocks  of  sheep  and 
goats  are  often  driven  over  ihe  seemingly  bare  hills  around,  and  man- 
age to  pick  herbage  enough  to  keep  tliem  in  good  condition,  though 
English  sheep,  1  fear,  wouhl  starve  on  such  pasture.  A  belt  of  table- 
land surrounds  Tekoa  upon  most  sides,  and  is  to  some  extent  ploughed 
and  sown;  a  few  patclu\s  of  grain  reaj)pearing  each  spring.  It  was  to 
the  wilderness  stretching  away  to  the  west,  or  rather  to  the  broad 
hollow  lying  below  it,  in  that  ilirection — the  best  pasture-ground  near 
— that  Jehoshai)hat  led  forth  his  fighting  men,  headed  by  a  chorus  of 
Levites,  and  found  his  enemies  fled,  having  quarrelled  amongst  them- 
selves. It  was  hither,  also,  after  the  death  of  their  magnificent  brother 
Judas  MaccabaMis,  that.Ionathan,  Simeon,  and  John  fled  from  Bacchides, 
the  Syrian  general  before  whom  Judas  had  fallen.^  The  unfortunate 
John,  however,  was  taken  ju'isoner,  and  all  his  band  were  carried  off, 
by  a  force  of  Ammonites  from  Medeba,^  across  the  Jordan.  He  had 
been  sent  by  his  brother  to  tho  south  of  the  Dead  Sea,  to  make  friendly 
arrangements  wit'.x  the  Nalmthanms,  when  he  and  his  com])any  were 
thus  cut  off.  But  whil«'  Simoon  and  Jonathan  still  lay  round  this  very 
Tekoa,  they  had  a  romantic  and  terrible  revenge  for  their  brother's 
fate.  Word  came  to  them  that  a  grand  nnirriage  had  been  arranged 
between  the  Ammonite  leader's  daughter  and  some  great  man  west  of 

I  2 Sam.  xiv.  '1 :  J  Oliron.  xt.  G ;  xx.  20 ;  Amos  Mil  Mace.  Ix.  93,    2  v.  o.  169,    3  This  is  Gi1inm'9 
^m^ndi^tiou,  aiulit  seems  jiut, 


250 


THE   HOLY   LAND   AND   THE   BIBLE. 


[CliAT. 


the  Jordan,  and  that  the  bride  was  being  led  Irom  Medeba,  with  a 
splendid  retinue,  bciitting  "the  daughter  of  one  of  the  great  prinees  of 
Canaan."  "  Therefore  they  remembered  .John,  their  brother,  and  went 
up  [from  tlie  valle}']  and  liid  themselvesunder  cover  of  the  mountains," 
to  await  their  prey.  And  now,  as  "they  lii'ted  up  their  eyes,  and 
looked,  behold,  there  was  much  ado,"  and  a  long  train  of  camels  and 
other  beasts,  laden  with  all  that  would  show  the  rank  and  wealth  of 
the  bride;  "and  the  bridegroom  came  fortli,  and  his  iViends  and 
brethren,  to  meet  them,  witli  timbrels  and  instruments  olinusie,  and 
many  weajions  ;  "  and  no  doubt  they  had  a  glad  tin»o,  as  the  two  parties 
saluted  each  otlier,  antl  joined  in  one  grand  eavaleade,  to  lead  the  bride 
home.  But  meauwliile  Jonatlian  lay  in  ambush  near  the  path  by 
which  they  wore  advancing,  and  whe>\  ho  had  fairly  caught  them,  he 
called  up  his  men,  and  set  on  tho  pmcession  so  fiercely  that  "  many 
fell  down  dead,  and  the  rest  fled  into  the  mountain,  and  Jonathan  took 
all  their  spoils."  "Thus  was  the  marriage  turned  into  mourning,  and 
the  noise  of  their  melody  into  lamentation."^  The  merry  laughter, 
the  clattering,  humming  timbrels,  the  marriage  songs,  the  bridegroom 
and  his  well-horsed  companions,  full  of  life,  and  proud  of  themselves 
and  c^  ! '"e  bride,  as  they  pace  along  under  a  sky  inispecked  by  cloud; 
the  coy  delight  of  the  bride  and  her  maids  that  the  hour  and  the  man 
have  at  last  arrived,  and  then.  Fate,  in  the  shape  of  Jonathan  and  his 
band,  springing  with  wild  cries  from  behind  every  rock,  and  death 
around  instead  of  the  hope  that  had  danced  before  them — wha';  a 
strange  and  tragic    i  'ry  ! 

The  country  bet\v>!en  Tekoa,  El-Fureidis,  and  ^lar  Saba,  which  is 
six  or  eight  miles  oft"  to  the  north-east,  towards  the  Dead  Sea,  is  sacred 
to  different  encampments  of  Arabs,  who  pitch  their  tents  as  the  wants 
of  their  flocks  require.  There  are  several  of  these  encampments  in  the 
district,  each  with  clearly -defined  limits  of  territory,  and  all  much 
alike.  Twenty  to  thirty  long  black  tents,  oj)en  in  front  and  sloping 
downwards  at  the  back,  are  set  up  close  together,  each  containing  two 
apartments ;  the  one  for  the  women  and  children,  the  other  for  the 
men.  When  you  .approach  you  find  yourself  annoimced  by  the  loud 
voices  of  the  hateful  dogs,  whose  barking  presently  brings  out  young 
and  old  to  see  the  stranger;  the  children  in  the  most  wretched  pretence 
of  dress,  or  without  any  at  all.  Now  and  then,  a  full-armed  sheikh  on 
horseback  is  nu  t,  waking  a  disagivoable  feeling  as  he  passes,  with  his 
long  spear,  and  his  black  eyes  shuuiig  out  from  his  dark  face:  as  wild 
as  Ishmael.  North-east  from  El-Fureidis  tho  country  is  less  bare  than 
to  the  east  or  south  ;  sometimes,  indeal,  even  pleasant  to  the  eye. 
Fields,  here  and  there,  run  down  the  slopes,  and  peasants  are  plough- 
ing with  oxen  and  asses.     Flowers  deck  the  sides  of  the  path;  grasg- 

\  1  M*cc.  |x.  36-41, 


AVilderness  ol  .Iiidea  near  EnKetli.    (See  page  »46.) 


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XVUl.J 


UIITAH. 


251 


lionpcrs  juul  otlier  iiisoctn  diirp,  leap,  luid  fly  about.  Tlic  graHsliopper 
ami  locust  tribr.s  arc  aiiioii^  llic  low  bright  things  one  meets,  lor  they 
arc  of  all  colors  scarlet,  crimson,  bright  blue,  dark  blue,  yellow,  white, 
greiMi,  and  brown,  as  tiiey  well  may  be  if  the  Rabbis  be  correct  in 
asserting  that  there  are  no  fewer  than  800  varieties  of  them.  Where 
the  hills  permit  a  wide  view,  the  landscaj)e  shows  a  varied  outline,  but 
in  this  part  it  is  neither  precipitous  nor  wild ;  the  ridges  stretching 
away  in  soft  hues,  and  the  valleys  nowhere  sinking  to  great  depths. 
Trees  are  not  to  be  seen. 

The  district  as  a  whole  between  Mar  Saba  and  IJrtaa  is,  however, 
very  desolate,  the  lirst  village  seen  from  a  distance  being  Tekoa,  to  the 
south.  Three  thousand  years  ago,  the  valleys  and  heights  may  have 
been  more  alive  with  popidation,  but  they  cannot  at  any  time  have 
been  thickly  inhabited.  Here,  as  elsewher  iu  this  region,  the  son  of 
Jes.se,  strong  and  brave,  led  his  flocks  in  his  youth.  Lions  came  up  to 
the  hills  from  the  "swellings  of  Jordan,"^  that  is,  from  the  reeds  and 
thickets  of  its  lower  course,  as,  indeed,  they  did  till  a  few  centuries 
ago;  filling  the  wild  gr<ges  of  the  Kedron  with  their  terrible  roar. 
Perhaps  it  was  among  these  very  hills  that  there  came  a  lion,  or  a 
bear,  and  took  a  lamb  out  of  the  flock,  and  the  lad  "went  alter  him, 
and  srnole  him,  and  delivered  it  out  of  his  mouth;"  and  when  tl;^ 
fierce  creature  rose  against  his  assailant,  he  "caught  him  by  his  beard, 
and  smote  him,  and  slew  him."^  Yonder,  perhaps,  on  the.se  bare 
slopes,  David  wandered  before  his  sheep  and  goats,  sleeping  at  riight 
in  some  cave  or  under  some  rock,  or  even  in  the  open,  after  gathei-ing 
thorns  and  kindling  a  fire  to  keep  olV  wild  beasts ;  his  drink,  water 
from  a  cleft  in  the  rocks,  or  from  a  small  pool  left  in  the  torrent-bed  ; 
his  food,  some  dried  figs  and  bread,  stowed  in  his  scrip,  or  in  the  bosom 
of  his  tunic,  the  favorite  pocket  of  the  common  people  even  now. 
Here,  it  may  be,  morning  and  night,  as  his  charge  came  out  of  some 
cave  used  as  a  fold,  or  went  into  it,  he  made  them  pass  one  by  t)ne 
under  his  shepherd's  staiV,  counting  them,  lest  even  one  stray  land) 
should  be  wanting ;  and  here,  alone  with,  his  flock,  the  silent  hills,  the 
shining  skies,  his  own  soul,  auO  God,  he  may  often  have  taken  up  the 
harp  he  had  invented,  and  com})osed  to  its  notes  some  of  those  Psalms 
wliieh  have  been  the  joy  of  a  hundred  generations,  and  are  still  so 
nnspeakably  dear  to  the  heart.^ 

The  way  to  Bethlehem  led  flirough  Wady  Urtas  again,  and  gave 
another  opportunity  for  seeing  the  great  Pools,  from  the  eastern  side. 
The  lowest  of  the  three  had  no  water,  the  second  had  some,  and  the 
highest  had  most;  the  second  being  about  half  full.  A  strong  but- 
tressed wall  runs  across,  at  the  eastern  end  of  each,  its  strength  pro- 


1  Jer.  xlix.  19;  1.  44;  xii.5.    "Pride."  in  R.  V.     L  1  Sam.  xvii.34  (R.  V.).     3  Lev.  xxvil  32 ;  Jer. 
xxxiti.  13;  Isa.  xxxii.  2;  1  Sam.  xvi.  18;  Amos  vi.  5 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


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23  WIST  MAM 
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262 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  THE   BIBLE. 


[Chap. 


Eortioned  to  the  weight  of  water  it  had  to  resist,  that  of  the  lower  pool 
avjng  a  slope  of  about  ten  feet,  as  seen  at  a  spot  where  the  earth, 
elsewhere  banked  up  nearly  to  the  top  of  the  wall,  revealed  the  struct- 
ure underneath.  There  must,  therefore,  at  the  bottom  of  this  wall 
have  been  a  thickness  of  not  less  than  fifteen  feet  of  masonry.  Exquis- 
itely green  patches  of  wheat  and  barley  were  growing  in  the  little  val- 
ley below ;  their  brightness  sj)ecinlly  attractive  because  of  the  desola- 
tion on  both  sides.  It  is,  indeed,  a  strange  characteristic  of  Palestine 
that  utter  barrenness  and  rich  fertility  are  almost  everywhere  seen  side 
by  side ;  the  limit  of  moisture  drawing  a  sharp  line  between  them.  I 
noticed  overflow  ducts  in  the  top  of  the  pool,  and  conduits  to  lead  off 
the  water,  when  there  was  too  much.  That  on  the  north  side,  next  the 
old  castle,  in  which  the  spring  was  flowing,  was  of  old  red  pottery  pipe, 
half  an  inch  thick,  lying  in  a  squpre  frame  of  stonework  covered  with 
small  flat  slabs,  some  of  which,  as  I  have  said,  were  missing. 


CHAPTEE  XIX. 


BETHLEHEM. 

The  road  to  Bethlehem  from  the  old  castle  El-Burak  ran  for  a  time 
over  the  shoulder  of  a  low  ascent,  unfenced,  but  ploughed  and  sown, 
with  no  walls  to  protect  the  ground  on  the  sides  of  the  track,  which 
followed  the  line  of  the  old  aqueduct  to  Jerusalem,  now  no  longer  to  be 
traced  except  in  a  few  places.  We  had  left  a  multitude  of  Eussian 
pilgrims  refreshing  themselves  on  the  open  ground  at  the  castle  and 
the  Pools,  and  had  regaled  ourselves  with  some  bread  and  sour  goats'- 
milk — *'  leben  " — bought  by  our  man  from  the  wife  of  one  of  the  two 
or  three  soldiers  in  the  castle.  It  was  very  nice  indeed,  but  I  was 
thankful  afterwards,  when  I  went  inside  the  castle  gate,  that  I  had  not 
seen  the  matron  who  supplied  it,  or  her  house,  for  acquaintance  with 
either  would  inevitably  have  prevented  my  indulging  in  the  luxury. 
Everyone  knows  that  he  must  swallow  an  alarming  amount  of  unclean- 
ness  in  the  course  of  his  life,  but  there  is  no  advantage  in  absorbing  a 
double  dose,  though  the  traveller  in  Palestine  is  in  constant  danger  of 
doing  so. 

At  times,  as  we  rode  on,  of  course  at  a  walk,  for  you  can  very  rarely 
go  faster  in  the  Holy  Land,  because  of  the  state  of  the  roads,  men 
passed  r-  asses  or  horses,  which  they  rode  without  compunction  through 
\]x^  ifisinr  grain.    The  broad  valley,  running  east  and  then  north^  from 


• 


XEK.] 


BETHLEHEM. 


253 


El-Burak^  to  Bethlehem,  soon  grew  more  and  more  attractive,  as  we 
neared  the  town.  Olive  and  fig  groves  covered  the  slopes,  intermixed 
with  vineyards,  each  with  its  water-tower,  reminding  one  of  ancient 
times.*  Where  the  ascent  was  steep,  terraces  rose,  one  over  the  other, 
to  prevent  the  soil  being  washed  away  by  the  rains.  The  path  along 
which  we  were  advancing  broadened  into  a  road,  with  dry  stone  walls 
of  yellowish-white  limestone  on  each  side,  while  similar  walls  ran  in 
atl  directions,  above  us  on  the  right,  and  below  on  the  left,  netting  over 
the  whole  basin  of  the  valley.  Husbandmen  were  everywhere  busy 
at  spring  work.  Everything  looked  fresh  and  cheerful.  The  walls 
were  new  and  well-built ;  the  red  soil,  cleared  of  stones,^  and  planted 
with  young  orchards,  or  laid  out  for  vegetables,  was  pleasant  to  look 
upon.  Not  a  foot  of  ground  was  lost.  For  several  miles  there  were 
no  weeds,  nor  ruins :  a  very  striking  experience  in  Palestine.  The 
industry  expended  was  evident,  for  not  a  few  vineyards  oii  the  higher 
side  of  the  road,  as  we  came  near  Bethlehem,  seemed  like  the  bottoms 
of  quarries,  so  covered  were  they  with  stones.  The  secret  of  this 
unusual  activity  and  life  is  easily  to  be  found :  the  people  of  the  dis- 
trict are  Christians. 

Passing  a  road  which  dipped,  on  the  left,  through  avenues  of  olives, 
and  then  went  across  the  valley,  and  up  the  slopes  on  the  other  side  to 
Beit  Jala,  another  Christian  village  somewhat  smaller  tlian  Bethlehem, 
we  rode  on  by  mistake  over  the  bare  limestone  which  here  forms  the 
track,  instead  of  turning  to  the  right,  which  would  have  taken  us 
straight  to  the  town.  The  Tomb  of  Eachel,  by  the  roadside,  first 
showed  our  error,  for  it  stands  north  of  Bethlehem,  so  we  turned  and 
went  back  by  another  road  which  climbed  up  a  steep  ascent,  with  the 
limestone  scarped  here  and  there  to  widen  the  track.  The  hill-side 
below  the  houses  is  terraced  into  a  succession  of  "  hanging  gardens," 
rich  with  olives  and  other  fruit-trees,  great  walls  running  along  the 
ascent  to  form  the  level  breadths.  Down  the  valley  rich  groves 
flourished  everywhere,  till,  as  the  eye  followed  them,  green  fields  and 
ploughed  land,  in  some  directions,  gradually  took  their  place.  Grey- 
rock,  however,  greatly  predominated  in  the  view,  so  that  as  a  whole 
the  landscape  was  still  very  desolate,  though  this  oasis  lay  in  its  midst. 
The  purple  Moabite  hills  rose  to  the  east,  their  tops  rising  in  what 
seemed  a  table-land;  at  their  feet  lay  the  deep  blue  waters  of  the  Dead 
Sea;  then  came  the  great  buildings  grouped  beside  the  Church  of  the 
Nativity — the  Latin,  Greek,  and  Armenian  convents,  v/hich,  with  the 
church  itself,  stretch  along  the  top  of  the  town-ridge,  on  the  south-east ; 
the  great  buttresses  reaching  down  the  sides  of  the  hill  with  a  very 
imposing  eftect. 

But  now  we  had  come  to  the  houses,  which  were  flat-roofed^  of  yel- 
(^ep. 236,  2Isa,y.2.  S^st^y.^ 


254 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


[Chap. 


lowish -white  limestone;  many  of  two,  others  of  three  stories,  and  a 
few  of  one.  Some  men  were  enjoying  a  quiet  gossip  on  the  roof  of  a 
k)w  building,  which  had  two  large  arched  windows,  with  olive-trees 
before  the  door.  A  boy  leaned  idly  over  the  wall,  a  little  below,  look- 
ing at  the  green  field  on  the  slope  beneath.  Then  came  a  man  astride 
a  donkey,  which  already  carried  a  sack  thrown  across  it,  half  on  each 
side,  the  man  sitting  above  it,  his  legs  thrust  out  on  a  level  with  the 
donkey's  chest;  next,  some  bare-legged  peasants  in  skull-caps,  each, 
of  course,  with  a  long  stick  in  his  hand;  some  townsmen  in  diflferent 
costumes,  and  some  Bethlehem  women  also  passed,  one  way  or  the 
other. 

The  female  dress  is  peculiar  in  this  locality.  Maidens  wear  a  light 
frame  on  the  head,  covered  with  a  long  white  linen  or  cotton  veil, 
which  falls  over  the  shoulders  to  the  elbows;  they  have  earrings,  and, 
over  the'  front  of  the  head,  showing  some  of  the  hair  below  it,  and  just 
under  the  veil,  is  a  diadem  of  silver,  or  silver-gilt,  with  a  band  of  orna- 
ments of  the  same  material,  loosely  fastened  to  it  at  both  ends,  so  as  to 
rest  on  the  brow  immediately  under  the  hair,  leaving  the  forehead  only 
partly  visible.  Their  black  hair  hangs  on  their  shoulders  in  heavy 
plaits,  just  seen  beneath  the  veil,  which  always  leaves  the  face  exposed 
— for  are  they  not  Christians?  Their  chief,  or  indeed,  it  may  be,  only 
garment,  is  a  long  blue  or  striped  gown,  generally  of  cotton,  loosely  tied 
in  at  the  waist,  with  open  sleeves  hanging  down  to  the  knees,  like 
those  of  a  surplice;  its  front,  above  the  wai.st,  always  set  off',  more  or 
less,  with  red,  yellow,  or  green  patches  of  cloth,  embroidered  to  the 
wearer's  taste.  Over  this  gown,  however,  the  well-to-do  are  fond  of 
wearing  a  bright  red  short-sleeved  jacket,  reaching,  in  some  cases,  to 
the  waist;  in  others,  to  the  knees. 

Matrons  have  a  somewhat  different  head-dress,  the  veil  resting  on 
the  top  of  a  round,  brimless  felt  hat,  much  like  that  of  a  Greek  priest, 
its  front  ornamented,  in  most  cases,  with  coins.  All  wear  earrings,  and 
strings  of  coins  glitter  round  their  necks,  hanging,  at  times,  down  to 
the  breast.  The  veil  is  about  two  yards  long,  and  not  quite  a  yard 
wide— large  and  stout  enough  to  hold  anything  the  owner  may  think 
fit  to  carry  in  it,  when  she  turns  it,  for  the  time,  to  some  prosaic  use, 
as  when  Ruth  held  out  her  veil  to  Boaz  while  he  filled  it  with  six 
measures  of  barley  and  then  laid  it  on  her  back  or  head.  And  very 
gladly,  no  doubt,  she  set  out  with  it,  up  the  steep  hill-track,  to  Naomi's, 
to  show  her  good  fortune.^  Veils  are  still  used  thus  by  the  women  of 
Bethlehem,  though  the  ends  are  gaud)^  enough  with  colored  silk  to 
keep  it,  when  new,  from  such  humble  service.  The  whole  fortune  of 
maiden  or  matron  alike  is  often  sewn  on  her  head-dress,  or  hung  round 
her  neck,  and  not  a  lew  women  have  be^n  murdered  in  past  days  for 
1  Buth  iii.  IS. 


9 

f 


XIX.] 


BETHLEHEM. 


255 


the  sake  of  the  wealth  thus  changed,  in  the  strictest  sense,  into  vanity. 
The  men,  though  Christian,  generally  wear  the  turban,  not  a  few, 
however,  having  only  the  red  Turkish  fez;  a  striped,  wide-sleeved 
dressing-gown,  of  bright-colored  cotton,  being  thrown  over  the  white 
or  colored  under-shirt. 

The  town  is  picturesque  in  the  highest  degree.  Its  fortified  walls 
have  long  vanished,  but  its  position  on  a  long,  narrow  ridge,  has  con- 
fined it  to  the  limits  of  three  thousand  years  ago,  and  its  houses,  very 
probably,  are  just  the  same  in  appearance  as  those  of  the  time  of 
David,  or  even  earlier.  In  fact,  we  nave  before  us  an  old  Jewish  city 
such  as  men  inhabited  in  the  Bible  ages.  But  its  picturesqueness  is 
the  best  of  it,  for  the  streets  are  as  far  from  being  clean  as  those  of 
other  Eastern  towns.  Bivulets  of  abomination  run  across  them  or 
stand  in  puddles,  for  scavengers  are  unknown,  and  the  masterless, 
dogs  cannot  eat  all  the  garbage.  The  main  street  is  largely  occupied 
by  workshops,  or  rather  arches,  with  no  window,  which  is  not  much 
loss  in  such  a  climate.  Looking  in,  one  sees  that  the  fioor  is  covered 
with  men  sitting  cross-legged,  hard  at  work  making  carved  rosaries  from 
the  stones  of  the  Dom  palm,  or  the  common  date,  or  olive-wood ;  crosses 
from  fig- wood,  stained  black ;  fancy  trifles  from  the  asphalt  of  the 
Dead  Sea ;  endless  souvenirs  of  the  town  in  olive-wood ;  but,  above 
all,  cutting  medallions  from  the  mother-of-pearl  oyster-shells  of  the 
Red  Sea,  or  engraving  them  with  the  story  of  our  Lord  from  His  birth 
to  His  death.  In  this  one  art  alone  there  are,  perhaps,  500  workmen 
engaged.  The  staple  industry  of  the  town  is  in  fact  the  manufacture 
of  endlessly  varied  mementoes  of  Bethlehem,  to  be  sold,  after  they 
have  been  blessed  b^  the  priests,  to  the  pilgrims.  This  being  a 
Christian  town,  the  wives  and  daughters  often  sit  with  their  husbands 
or  brothers :  a  strange  sight  in  the  East,  but  one  that  goes  far,  by 
what  it  suggests,  to  account  for  the  general  prosperity. 

The  buildings  show  that  no  masons  could  be  better  than  the  Bethle- 
hemites,  though  there  are  not  many  good  houses  except  in  the  front 
street,  and  even  this  has  its  better  and  its  worse  end.  Inside,  some 
are,  of  course,  very  superior  to  others,  and  it  is  the  same  with  the 
workshops.  Here  is  one,  where  men  and  women  are  busy  making 
beads  for  rosaries.  All  the  men  are  on  the  ground,  cross-legged ;  the 
women  on  low  pieces  of  wood,  their  bare  feet  visible  outside  their 
dress.  Mat  baskets,  or  large  wooden  bowls,  of  beads  cut  from  olive 
rods,  are  on  the  ground ;  one  man  saws  a  small  piece  of  wood  fixed 
upright  in  a  vice,  another  turns  the  beads  at  a  most  primitive  lathe, 
driven  by  a  cord  stretched  ci  a  bent  fiddle-stick  arrangement.  The 
work-bench  consists  of  some  beams  on  the  ground,  but  one  man  has  a 
yice  fixed  in  the  earth,  and  is  filing  something  vigorously ;  the  women 
have  fiddle*bows  of  their  own,  but  the  string  is  a  fine  saw  to  cut  the 


m 


tHE  HOLY   LAl^D  ANt)  THE  BIBLBJ. 


tC«AI>. 


beads  apart.  The  long  stick  whi(ih  tliey  dissect  with  this  tool  rests 
on  an  upright,  and  is  held  straight  by  the  left  hand. 

The  workshop  of  Joseph  at  Nazareth  could  not  have  been  simpler, 
or,  I  miglit  say,  ruder,  for  this  one  seems  originally  to  have  been  a 
small  cavern  in  the  hill-side,  the  front  being  filled  in,  except  the  door, 
with  masonry,  to  fit  it  for  its  present  purpose.  The  roof  is  ceiled  with 
a  coating  of  reed-stalks,  which  sadly  needs  repair;  the  walls  are  in 
their  mitnral  roughness;  the  floor  is  the  limestone;  the  door  might 
have  been  made  by  one  of  Noah's  carpenters,  so  roughly  is  it  put 
together.  A  woman  outside,  with  a  nearly  naked  child  asti'ide  her 
shoulder,  her  forehead  jind  neck  bright  with  coins,  is  looking  in,  with 
ourselves,  at  the  busy  scene.  Turning  uj)  one  of  the  short  steep  side- 
lanes,  1  found  a  second  street  parallel  with  the  principal  one,  but 
dirtier.  Careful  stepping  over  pools  and  rivulets  which  were  not  from 
the  heavens,  was  needed  to  reach  the  Protestant  School,  which  I 
wished  to  visit.  Inside,  I  need  not  say,  English  taste  and  cleanliness 
formed  a  wonderful  contrast  to  the  dismal  approach.  At  some  points, 
on  the  lower  side  of  the  main  street,  houses  extend  a  short  way  down 
the  hill,  with  stairs  outside.  One  I  noticed  with  the  stone  wall  built 
on  the  edge  of  the  lime  stone,  so  that  the  view  was  uninterrupted  to 
the  bottom  of  the  valley.  A  very  rickety  hand-rail  guarded  the  inner 
side;  such  a  rail  as  the  whole  West  could  not  match;  made  of  natural 
wood,  rough,  bent,  gaping,  set  on  the  steps,  and  held  in  its  place  one 
knew  not  how.  Two  flights  led  up  to  the  door,  over  which  was  a 
sacred  picture,  the  inmates  belonging  to  the  Greek  Church.  Stairs 
and  house  alike  were  built  in  arch'^s  ;  the  wooded  railing  alone  vindi- 
cating the  rude  backwardness  of  the  East.  Two  women  sat  grinding 
corn  on  the  landing  above  the  first  flight;  a  young  woman  and  a 
young  man  were  enjoying  an  interview  lower  down,  and  a  miserable- 
looking  old  woman  surveyed  the  world  from  above. 

Going  towards  the  Church  of  the  Nativity,  the  scene  became  livelier. 
Sellers  of  vegetables  sat  on  the  ground  along  the  walls,  their  stores  at 
their  side,  or  in  front  of  them;  beggars,  in  long  blue  gaberdines,  silently 
stretched  out  their  hands  for  alms;  women  with  their  white  side 
veils  and  bright  dresses  passed  and  re-passed;  open-air  grocers  dis- 
played their  wares ;  one  turbaned  figure  sat  amidst  a  show  of  broken 
and  mended  umbrellas ;  another  watched  over  a  collection  of  mouse- 
traps, which  he  very  much  wished  to  convert  into  piastres ;  a  third 
fimdly  hoped  you  would  invest  in  his  figs,  raisins,  or  oranges ;  a  fourth 
had  bread  or  cakes  to  tempt  you.  A  few  shops,  faintly  trying  to  look 
European,  presented  in  the  windows  a  varied  collection  of  local  niemeni 
tos ;  and,  of  course,  there  were  one  or  two  places  where  thirsty  souls 
might  drink,  though  foreigners  alone,  I  doubt  not,  sought  any  stronger 
beverage  than  coffee. 


tix.i 


BfiTHLEHEM. 


25t 


The  entrance  to  the  Church  of  the  Nativity  faces  an  open  space;  the 

Sromenade  of  older  Bethlehemites,  and  the  playground  of  younger. 
>ld  marble  pillars  lie  side  by  side  in  one  part  ot  it,  and  serve  as  a  seat 
for  the  weary  or  idle,  and  a  centre  of  activity  for  urchins,  who  must 
clamber  over  something,  even  in  the  city  of  David.  The  old  arched 
gateway  into  the  church  has  been  long  ago  filled  up  with  heavy  square 
stones,  to  resist  attack,  and  now  the  onlv  entrance  is  by  a  small  door, 
less  than  three  feet  broad,  and  hardly  four  feet  high;*  but  it  is  well 
that  the  proudest  have  to  stoop  in  entering  a  building  so  venerable. 
Contemporary  evidence  proves  that  it  was  built  by  order  of  Constan- 
tine,*  so  that  it  is  the  oldest  church  in  Palestine,  perhaps  in  the  world. 
Within,  you  are  in  the  presence  of  sixteen  centuries,  and  tread  ground 
hallowed  by  the  footsteps  of  nearly  fifty  generations  of  believers  in  the 
Crucified  one.  You  find  yourself  in  a  small  bare  porch,  once 
approached  through  a  spacious  quadrangle  on  the  open  space  outside, 
with  covered  ways,  lined  with  rows  of  pillars,  in  front  and  at  the  sides, 
and  provision  for  baptism  and  oblation  in  the  centre.  From  this,  three 
spacious  arched  gates  led  into  the  ancient  porch,  which  ran  along  great 
part  of  the  west  end  of  the  church ;  but  two  of  the  gates  have  been 
entirely  built  up,  and,  as  we  have  seen,  only  a  very  small  doorway  is 
left  in  the  third,  for  fear  of  the  Mahommedans.  The  porch  is  dark, 
and  is  divided  by  walls  into  different  chambers. 

Inside,  the  venerable  simplicity  is  very  impressive.  You  face  the 
east  end,  which  is  170  feet  from  the  western  wall,  and,  proceeding  to 
the  centre,  find  yourself  under  a  nave  which  rises  in  a  pointed  roof 
about  thirty  feet  over  the  capitals  of  the  great  pillars,  nineteen  feet 
high,  which  support  an  aisle  on  each  side.  A  clerestory,  with  five 
arched  windowrs  at  each  side,  admits  abundant  light.  The  aisles  are 
flat-roofed,  supported  in  the  centre  by  a  row  of  eleven  massive  pillars, 
while  another  row  of  the  same  number  holds  up  the  straight  beams  of 
the  lofty  nave,  the  windows  over  which  correspond  to  the  spaces 
between  the  columns  below.  Once  elaborately  painted,  there  is  now 
little  ornament  left  on  them,  except  some  faint  indications  of  former 

Sictures  of  saints,  and  armorial  bearings  and  mottoes,  left  eight  hun- 
red  years  ago  by  the  Crusaders,  with  whose  greatest  chiefs  it  was  a 
great  matter  to  have  their  names  emblazoned  in  the  Church  of  tlie 
Nativity.  The  columns,  each  one  mighty  whole,  are  of  reddish  lime- 
stone with  white  veins,  and  rest  on  great  square  slabs,  the  capitals 
being  Corinthian,  and  the  architraves  very  simple.  The  pointed  roof 
of  the  nave  was  once  richly  painted  and  gilded,  but  this  glory  has  long 
ago  departed  ;  and  the  spaces  between  the  high  windows  and  its  sides 
were  formerly  covered  with  marbles  and  mosaics,  but  though  the  mar- 
bles remain,  the  mosaics  survive  only  in  fragments.  When  perfect, 
1  It  is  tbirty-two  inches  by  forty-six.  2  a.  d.  806—387. 

17 


258 


THE  HOLY  LANli  AND  THE   BIBLE. 


[CHAr. 


these  represented,  on  the  south  side,  the  seven  immediate  ancestors  of 
Joseph,  the  husband  of  tlje  Holy  Virgin.  Above  tliem,  concealed  by 
curtains,  are  niches  containing  altars,  on  which  books  of  tlie  Gospels 
rest ;  and  on  a  line  with  these  is  a  strange  mosaic  of  colored  glass,  on 
a  gilded  ground,  representing  a  huge  plant,  the  creation  of  someone's 
brain,  long  ago,  not  the  imitation  of  any  natural  growth.  On  the  left 
wall  of  this  aisle,  high  up,  there  once  were  mosaics  of  ancient  cliurches, 
but  only  those  of  Antioch  and  Sardis  now  remain,  in  very  primitive 
drawing,  without  perspective.  The  mosaics  were  put  up  by  Manuel 
Comnenus,  Emperor  of  Constantinople,  about  A.  D.  1160 ;  but  the  great 
pillars  and  the  structure  as  a  whole,  with  its  crosses  and  Corinthian 
capitals,  admittedly  date  from  the  time  of  Constantine.  The  beams  of 
the  lofty  roof  of  the  nave  are  of  plain  unpainted  cypress,  and  are  not 
in  any  way  concealed. 

A  short  way  cown  the  aisle  stands  the  ancient  baptismal  font,  eight- 
sided,  with  an  inscription  in  Greek  on  a  tablet  below,  over  a  small 
sculptured  cross,  "  (Given)  as  a  memorial,  before  God,  and  for  the  peace 
and  forgiveness  of  the  sinners  (who  presented  it),  of  whom  the  Lord 
knows  the  names."  Humble  enough  1  But  all  the  more  likely  to  be 
noted  above.  It  brings  one  in  mind  of  the  dying  request  of  the  once 
imperious  Alfonso  de  Ojeda,  erewhile  the  haughtiest  knight  of  Castile, 
yet  in  the  end  lowly  before  his  Saviour — that  they  should  bury  him 
at  the  entrance  to  the  cathedral  at  Havana,  that  everyone,  as  he  went 
in,  might  tread  on  the  dust  of  so  unworthy  a  worm.  This  inscription, 
and  the  rude  scratchings  of  their  crests  on  the  pillars  by  old  Crusading 
warriors,  gone  over  to  the  majority  eight  hundred  years  ago,  touched 
me  greatly.  There  are  two  crowns  among  them,  with  the  crest  rising 
high  above,  and  the  cheek-plates  of  the  helmet  below;  and  four  crests 
and  helmets  of  knights,  with  legends,  now  beyond  m}'  reading,  to  tell 
who  it  was  that  each  was  intended  to  immortalize.  But  the  wearers 
have  all,  long  since,  gone  on  a  longer  journey  than  that  which  brought 
them  here. 

A  wall  on  the  east  side  of  this  many-pillared  square  space  runs  across 
aisles  and  nave  alike ;  the  former  ending  here,  though  the  nave  really 
extends  beyond  this  line  to  the  east  end  of  the  church,  which  is  rounded 
into  a  projecting  half-circle,  or  apse:  tlie  secret  chamber  of  the  Greek 
altar  and  choir,  for  in  Greek  worship  both  are  hidden  from  the  con- 
gregation by  a  screen.  This  apsidal  end,  with  two  similar  semicircles 
at  the  two  ends  of  the  transept,  gives  the  shape  of  a  Latin  cross  to  the 
whole  building.  The  ends  show  some  remains  of  very  old  mosaics, 
which  merit  close  study  as  illustrations  of  ancient  Christian  ideas.  In 
that  at  the  south  side,  Christ  is  entering  into  Jerusalem,  riding  on  an 
ass,  and  accompanied  by  a  disciple,  the  other  figures  of  His  escort 
being  destroyed.    People  who  have  come  out  from  the  city  to  meet 


I 


Mother  of  Pearl  workers  ia  Bethlehem  (making  beads  for  rosaries . )  (See  page  S&5.) 


xix.i: 


BETnLEREM. 


259 


, 


Him  spread  tlieir  garments  in  the  way;  one  man  is  climbing  n  tree,  to 
cut  oft  branches  with  whicli  to  do  llini  honor,  and  a  woman,  with  a 
child  sitting  on  her  left  shoulder/  looks  on.  At  the  north  side,  St. 
Thomas  is  being  invited  by  our  Saviour  to  examine  His  wounds,  but 
here,  and  also  in  the  fragment  of  another  mosaic,  he  and  his  fellow- 
apostles  are  represented  witiiout  a  nimbus,  or  ring  of  glory,  round  the 
head.     In  one  part,  the  Virgin  Mary  is  sitting  between  two  angels. 

But  these  ancient  glories  are  apt  to  be  overlooked  in  the  blaze  of 
comparatively  modern  splendor  with  which  the  Greeks  have  filled  this 
sacred  spot.  The  pillars,  with  rich  Corinthian  capitals,  are  ornamented 
with  large  pictures  of  saints.  Six  low  steps  lead  to  a  raised  floor, 
before  the  east  end  of  the  nave,  which  is  hidden  by  an  elaborate  screen 
about  twenty-three  feet  high,  with  a  decorated  cross,  some  sacred 
pictures,  and  small  carved  angels  with  wings,  rising  above  it;  while 
there  is  another  row  of  pictures  immediately  under  the  cornice.  Be- 
hind  this  screen  the  Elements  are  consecrated,  and  the  choir  sing. 
The  recess  between  the  pillars  of  the  transept  and  this  georgeous  par- 
tition is  shut  oflf,  at  each  side,  by  a  screen  beautifully  panelled,  about 
eight  feet  high,  surmounted,  on  the  left  side,  by  a  row  of  hanging 
lamps,  of  which  there  are  altogether  fourteen  on  the  two  sides  facing 
the  nave  and  the  transept.  Two  huge  candlesticks,  with  a  candle  in 
each,  rising  about  twelve  feet  high,  and  a  row  of  smaller  ones  on  the 
edge  of  the  socket,  stand  before  the  high  screen;  and  a  string  of  lamps, 
looped  up  in  the  centre  into  two  graceful  curves,  hang  across  from  tne 
capitals  of  the  corner  pillars. 

Worshippers  are  always  coming  and  going;  nearly  all  the  men  in 
tvibans  ana  striped  "abbas;"  some  resting  on  the  stone  steps;  others 
sitting  on  the  floor;  yet  others  praying  with  their  faces  to  the  east, 
before  the  great  screen.  Christ  has  followers  of  many  nations,  and,  I 
feel  sure,  not  a  few  faithful  ones  among  the  ebbing  and  flowing  congre- 
gation who  lift  up  their  hearts  to  Him,  day  by  day,  in  this  specially 
sacred  temple.  We  are  apt  to  regard  foreign  Ch.irches  harshly;  to 
know  them  better,  would  lead  us  to  respect  them  more.  At  Athens, 
at  Odessa,  and  at  St.  Petersburg,  the  result  of  inquiries  from  those 
likely  to  be  best  informed — Bible  Society  agents,  and  the  head  of  a 
great  Protestant  Missionary  School — was  to  fill  my  heart  with  joy,  for 
I  learnt  that,  alike  in  Greece  and  in  vast  Russia,  not  a  few  true  Chris- 
tians are  everywhere  found  in  the  ancient  communion. 

Descending  the  steps  from  the  raised  floor  of  the  eastern  part  of  the 
nave,  and  turning  sharply  to  the  left,  a  half-sunk  arched  doorway  leads 
you  down  by  thirteen  steps  to  the  Chapel  of  the  Nativity ;  once  a  rude 
cave ;  now  paved  and  walled  with  marble,  and  lighted  by  thirty-two 
lamps.  About  forty  feet  from  east  to  west,  it  is  only  sixteen  wide, 
1  Isa.  zlix,  22. 


I 


260 


THE   HOLY    LAND   AND  THE  BIBLE. 


[Chap. 


and  ten  liigli,  and,  of  course,  would  be  totally  dark  but  for  the  artifi- 
cial illumination,  ibr  it  lies  immediately  under  the  great  choir,  at  the 
very  east  of  the  church.  The  roof  is  covered  with  what  had  once 
been  striped  cloth  of  gold;  three  huge  candlesticks,  with  candles  rising 
higher  than  your  head,  stand  at  the  back ;  and  in  front,  between  two 
marble  pillars,  a  large  picture  of  the  Nativity,  and  some  small  ones 
below  it,  rest  on  a  i)rojecting  shelf  of  marble,  forming  the  altar. 

Below  this  is  a  shrine  unsi)eakably  sacred  to  millions  of  our  fellow 
Christians.  It  is  semicircular,  arching  out  wards  above,  and  at  most 
only  four  feet  high.  Fifteen  silver  liimi)s  burn  in  it,  night  and  day, 
lightino'  up  the  painted  marbles  which  encrust  it ;  and  in  the  centre  of 
its  small  floor  is  a  silver  star — marking  the  spot,  it  is  believed,  over 
which  the  Star  of  the  East  once  rested — with  an  inscription,  at  the 
sight  of  which,  I  frankly  confess,  I  wei)t  like  a  child :  ^'■Hic  de  Viryine 
Maria  Jesus  Christus  natiis  est''''  (  'Here  Jesus  Christ  was  born  of  the 
Virgin  Mary").  A  Turkisli  soldier,  gun  in  hand,  and  fez  on  head, 
stood  a  few  steps  behind,  but  I  forgot  his  presence.  Pilgrims  kneeled 
down  and  kissed  the  silver  which  s[)oke  a  story  so  infinitely  touching, 
and  I  did  the  same,  for  I  do  not  believe  in  indiscriminate  scepticism. 

As  far  back  as  the  middle  of  the  second  century — that  is  to  say, 
within  less  than  120  years  of  our  Loid's  death,  and  within  thirty  or 
forty  years  after  that  of  the  last  of  the  apostles,  the  beloved  St.  John — 
Justin  Martyr,  himself  a  man  of  Nablus,  speaks  of  the  Saviour's  birth 
as  having  taken  place  "in  a  certain  cave  very  close  to  the  village;" 
and  this  particular  cave,  now  honored  as  the  scene  of  the  Saviour's 
birth,  was  already  so  venerated  in  the  days  of  Hadrian^  that,  to  des- 
ecrate it,  he  caused  a  grove  sacred  to  Adonis  to  be  planted  over  it,  so 
that  +he  Syrian  god  might  be  worshipped  on  the  very  spot — a  form  of 
idolatry  peculiaily  abhorrent  to  the  pure  morals  of  Christianity. 
Origen,  in  the  opening  of  the  third  century,  speaks  of  this  cave  as 
recognized  even  by  the  heatheii  as  the  birth-place  of  their  Lord.^ 
And  to  this  spot  came  St.  Jerome,^  making  his  home  for  thirty  years 
in  a  cave  close  by,  that  he  might  be  near  the  birth-place  of  his  Master; 
Hadrian's  grove  had  been  destroyed  sixteen  years  before  his  birth,  to 
make  room  for  the  very  church  now  standing.  There  is  no  reason, 
therefore,  so  far  as  I  can  see,  to  doubt  that  in  this  cave,  so  hallowed  by 
immemorial  veneration,  the  Great  Event  associated  with  it  actually 
took  place. 

Nor  is  there  any  ground  for  hesitation  because  it  is  a  cave  that  is  re- 
garded as  the  sacred  spot.  Nothing  is  more  common  in  a  Palestine 
village,  built  on  a  hill,  than  to  use  as  adjuncts  of  the  houses,  the  caves 
with  which  all  the  limestone  rocks  of  the  country  abound ;  making 
them  the  store-room,  perhaps,  or  the   workshop,  or  the  stable,  and 

1  A.D.  117-138.    2  A.D.  185->253.    8  A. D.  381-420.    iLandqf  JwrQa,p.12, 


." 


XIX.] 


BETHLEHEM. 


261 


building  the  dwellings  before  them  so  as  to  join  the  two.  Canon 
Tristram^  speaks  of  a  farm-house  he  visited,  north  "  Acre,  which 
was  a  granary  and  stable  below  and  a  dwelling-place  above ;  and  many 
stables  in  the  neighborhood  of  Bethlehem  are  still  recesses  cut  in  the 
rock,  or  mere  natural  caves.^  In  Egypt  I  have  often  seen  houses 
where  goats,  sheep,  cattle,  or  an  ass,  were  in  one  part,  and  the  human 
beings  in  the  other.  Had  the  piety  of  the  monkp  left  the  alleged  site 
of  the  Nativity  in  its  original  state  there  would  have  been  no  pre- 
sumption against  it  from  its  being  a  cave. 

As  might  have  been  expected,  centuries  have  brought  many  doubtful^ 
accretions  to  the  original  simple  story.  Passing  from  the  Cave  of  the 
Nativity,  you  are  led,  still  underground,  past  what  the  Latin  Church 
says  is  the  very  manger,  to  an  altar  on  the  spot  where,  it  is  alleged, 
the  Magi  worshipped  the  Infant  Savior;  then  to  a  spring  from  which 
the  Holy  Family  was  sujjplied ;  next  to  the  place  where  the  vision 
appeared  commanding  the  flight  into  Egypt;  then  to  the  chapel  where 
the  Innocents  were  buried;  and  finally  to  the  tombs  of  Eustocnium  and 
Paula,  the  pupils  of  St.  Jerome,  and  of  the  great  father  himself,  and  to 
the  cave  in  which  he  lived  so  long,  preparing  his  immortal  Vulgate 
Bible;  the  only  light  of  this  gloomy  retreat  being  the  opening  into  the 
passage  of  the  Latin  monastery.  That  he  lived  and  was  buried  here, 
and  that  Paula  was  buried  near  him,  is  very  probable;  as  to  the  rest, 
fiction  seems  to  have  run  wild. 

Joined  to  the  famous  church,  are  the  three  monasteries  of  the  Greeks, 
Armenians,  and  Latins,  which  have  fine  orchards,  rooms  to  receive 
travellers,  and  charming  views  from  their  roofs.  In  that  of  the  Latins 
were  some  fat  swine,  the  only  ones  I  saw  in  Palestine.  In  that  of  tlie 
Greeks  there  is  a  monkish  wonder  which  at  least  shows  the  strength 
of  human  credulity.  A  cave  is  shown,  on  the  floor  of  which  a  drop 
of  the  Holy  Virgin's  milk  is  said  to  have  fallen,  with  the  result,  as  is 
universally  believed,  of  making  the  pulverized  rock  highly  effica- 
cious for  inc"  "lasing  the  milk  of  women  and  even  of  animals,  for  which 
purpose  round  cakes,  mixed  with  dust  from  it,  are  to  this  day  sold  to 
pilgrims ! 

Only  the  portion  of  the  church  from  the  transept  eastward  is  now 
used  for  worship,  and  I  must  say  that  the  air  and  behavior  of  the  local 
clergy  and  laity,  as  they  walk  about  in  the  aisles  and  nave  of  the  other 
half,  make  it  hard  to  realize  the  sanctity  of  the  place.  Sellers  obtrude 
their  wares  on  the  visitor,  inviting  attention  to  their  trays  of  local 
keepsakes  and  "curios,"  or  producing  them  from  their  dress;  often  dis- 
turbing the  sacred  house  by  noisy  haggling  and  chaffering,  till  one 
feels  something  of  the  righteous  indignation  that  roused  our  Lord  to 
drive  their  predecessors  in  this  sacrilege  from  the  Temple  courts.* 

I  Jmtt  qf  Jtrael,  p.  72,   2  Tft  Work  in  PaMine,  p.  lH.   3  Hwrk  zL  15-18. 


262 


THE    HOLY  LAND  AND  THE   BIBLE. 


[OBiLP. 


The  south  side  of  Bethlehem  looks  down  as  deep  a  valley  as  that 
on  the  north,  with  similar  terraces,  rich  in  I'ruit-trees,  hinking  in  great 
steps  to  the  hollow  below,  which  is  crowded  with  garden.^  and  orchards. 
All  round  Bethlehem,  indeed,  the  eye  wanders  over  scenes  beautiful  ia 
their  natural  charms,  or  hallowed  by  sacred  memories.  Directly  to 
the  north  lies  the  tomb  of  Eachel,  whom  Jacob  buried  by  the  wayside, 
as  Tie  tells  his  sons  on  his  death-bed  many  long  years  after  :^  his  lieart 
true,  even  in  death,  to  her  whom  he  had  loved  at  first  sight  in  distant 
Mesopotamia,  and  had  so  early  lost  but  could  never  forget.  Tlie  town 
was  called  Ephrath  then,  for  the  name  Bethlehem  ("the  House  of 
Bread") — now  corrupted  by  the  Arabs  into  Beit-Lahm  ("the  House  of 
Flesh") — was  given  to  it  centuries  later.  On  the  slopes  down  the 
valley  to  the  east,  the  beautiful  idyl  of  Ruth  had  its  scene.  The 
fields  in  which  she  gleaned  are  there,  of  course;  and  the  path  by  which 
she  and  Naomi,  two  lonely  widows,  climbed  up  to  the  town  is  still,  no 
doubt,  the  same  as  that  by  which  the  daughters  of  Bethlehem  come 
up  to  the  village  from  the  glen.  In  that  Wady  Kharubeh,  and  on  the 
hill-side  beyond,  lay  the  fields  of  Boaz,  where  he  allowed  the  Moab- 
itess  to  glean  after  the  reapers,  as  you  may  still  .see  girls  and  women 
doing  in  harvest-time.  The  old  man  was  smitten  by  the  young  widow 
before  he  knew  it,  for  as  soon  as  he  saw  her,  he  must  needs  beg  her  not 
to  glean  in  any  other  part  of  the  valley  but  his,  and  to  stay  fast  by  his 
maidens.^  Women,  it  seems,  shared  the  toil  of  liarvesting  in  those 
early  days,  as  they  do  now,  no  less  than  the  "young  men,"  who,  to 
their  shame,  needed  the  warning  of  Boaz  not  to  touch  the  poor  gleaner. 
Reapers,  even  now,  come  from  all  parts  of  the  country  to  work  lor  hire, 
and  are  not  too  much  to  he  trusted  in  either  morals  or  manners.  Har- 
vest is  earlier  on  the  sea-coast  and  plains,  and  in  the  Jordan  vallev, 
than  on  the  hills,  and  hence  the  hill-men  are  free  to  go  doAvn  to  help  m 
it  without  neglecting  their  own  grain,  and  the  lowlanders  can  come  up 
to  the  hills  because  tlieir  harvest  is  over. 

The  land  belonging  to  Bonz  was  not  fenced  off,  for  there  are 
neither  hedges  nor  fences  in  Palestine,  except  round  orchards  or  gar- 
dens ;  but  it  was  marked  off  by  boundary  stones,  sacredly  respected  by 
every  one.  To  remove  a  neighbors  landmarks  was  to  incur  the  curse 
of  God ;  and  Job  could  not  picture  the  unscrupulously  wicked  more 
vividly  than  by  charging  them  with  this  crime.^  You  see  these  stones 
in  every  part  of  Palestine;  generally  a  rough  block,  partly  sunk  in  the 
ground.  On  the  hills  beyond  there  were  none,  for  no  cue  owned  anv 
part  of  these  in  private  right;  they  were  the  "commons,"  on  which 
eacli  had  an  equal  right  to  pasture  his  flock  or  herd.  Harvest  in  every 
century  is  a  joyful  time,  and  the  heart  of  Boaz  was  in  keeping  with  the 
good  nature  of  all  around.  As  now,  the  whole  village,  one  may  suppose, 
1  Oen.  xlvill.  7.  2ButbU.8.   8  Deut.xls.l4;  «xvU.17:  »oy.»[U.9;mU.]0;  JObuiT.a. 


. 


XTX.] 


BETHLEHEM. 


268 


had  gone  out  to  the  fields ;  the  children  and  aged  gleaning ;  the  strong,  of 
both  sexes,  plying  tlie  sickle.  It  is  quite  likely,  too,  that  some  of  the 
workers  from  the  lowlands,  or  the  Jordan  valley,  had  brought  their  wives 
and  families  with  them,  that  the  women  and  children  might  get  a  share 
of  the  gleaning,  for  thev  do  this  still,  sleeping  on  the  ground  at  night, 
under  the  bright  sky.  The  whole  business,  indeed,  is  taken  easily,  for 
good  weather  is  certain,  and  there  is  so  little  reason  for  hurry  that  you 
may  at  times  see  a  whole  line  of  reapers  sitting  at  their  task  and  moving 
forward  to  the  grain  without  a  thought  of  rising.  Rain  in  harvest  is,  in 
fact,  such  an  unusual  ocr-urrence  that  it  will  be  remembered  how,  on  its 
faUing  at  the  call  of  Samuel,  it  was  recognized  by  the  people  as  a 
miraculous  sign.* 

Boaz  saluted  the  reapers,  when  he  came  among  them,  with  the  cour- 
teous phrase,  "The  Lord  be  with  you,"  and  received  the  response,  "  Tlie 
Lord  bless  thee."  The  owner  meets  his  laborers  to-day  with  the  very 
same  words,  and  the  same  answer  is  returned.  The  evening  meal  is 
still  the  same  as  that  wTiich  Rnth  was  invited  to  share.  A  fire  of  dry 
grass  or  stalks  of  weeds,  or  stubble  or  straw,  is  kindled,  and  a  lapful 
of  ears  tossed  on  it  and  left  till  the  husks  are  scorched  off".  On  this 
sign  that  they  are  ready  for  eating,  the  whole  are  cleverly  swept  from 
the  embers  into  a  cloak  spread  out  to  receive  them.  The  grain  is  then 
beaten  out  and  winnowed,  by  being  thrown  up  into  the  air,  and  after 
this  is  spread  out  for  the  hungry  mouths  around.  Sometimes  it  is 
roasted  in  a  pan  or  on  an  iron  plate,  or  a  bunch  of  wheat  is  held  over  the 
fire  till  the  chaflf  is  burnt  off;  some  liking  this  method  better  than  throw- 
ing the  ears  on  the  fire.  Women  have  this  task,  and  it  is  amusing  to 
see  them  holding  the  corn  in  the  flame  till  the  precise  moment  when 
the  husks  are  consumed,  and  then  beating  out  the  grain  with  skilled 
dexterity,  with  the  help  of  a  short  stick.  Such  "parched  corn"^  is  so 
pleasant  to  the  taste  that  one  cannot  wonder  at  its  having  kept  its 
ground,  as  the  reaper's  food,  for  over  three  thousand  years.  As  in 
those  early  days^  vinegar  is  still  often  mixed  with  water,  to  make  a 
cooling  drink  m  the  warm  summer,  so  that  in  this,  also,  modern  and 
ancient  customs  agree.  One  can  easily,  moreover,  see  the  need  of 
Boaz  guarding  Ruth  from  the  broad  and  noisy  humor  so  natural  in 
8uch  company  after  the  labor  of  the  day  was  over.  No  picture  could 
be  more  beautiful  in  its  simplicity  than  that  of  Ruth  sitting  beside  the 
reapers,  Boaz  taking  his  place  among  them,  near  her,  and  reaching  her 
some  of  the  parched  corn,  of  which  he  was  partaking  with  his  men.* 

Ruth  began  her  gleaning  when  the  barley  ripened,  and  followed 
Naomi's  sagacious  advice,  to  keep  to  the  field  of  Boaz  till  the  wheat 
was  reaped;    the  one  crop  being  often  cut  before  the  other  is  ripe.* 
Hence,  the  gift  of  Boaz  was  six  measures  of  barley — not  wheat,  for 

1  1  Sam.  xii.  17, 18.    2  Ruth  ii.  14.    3  Suth  ii.  14.    4  Ruth  ii.  22,  23. 


264 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


[Chap. 


though  barley  is  eaten  only  by  the  poor,  the  wheat  was  not  yet  ready, 
and  barley  bread  is  excellent  when  better  cannot  be  had.  Nor  are  we 
to  suppose  that  she  carried  home  all  the  straw  of  lier  gleaning,  for  we 
are  tola  that  "she  beat  out  what  she  had  gleaned,"^  just  as  tlie  women 
do  now,  after  the  day's  gleaning  is  over;  sitting  down  by  the  roadside 
and  beating  out  the  grain  with  a  stone  or  stick  into  her  stout  linen  veil, 
and  throwing  away  the  straw;  then  climbing  the  hill  with  her  ephah 
of  barley^ — four  gallons,  says  Joseph  us;  eight,  say  the  Rabbis — safely 
tied  up,  and  poised  on  her  head.  The  law  gave  the  right  of  gleaning 
to  the  poor,  for  whom,  in  Israel,  there  was  no  more  formal  provision; 
and  this  custom  has  become  so  deeply  rooted  that  one  sees,  at  the 
present  day,  well-nigh  as  many  gleaners  as  reapers,  when  a  valley  is 
being  harvested.  That  Ruth  and  Naomi  should  have  taken  advantage 
of  this  kindly  system  shows  that  they  must  have  been  poor.  But  this 
was  no  bar  to  Ruth's  marriage  with  Boaz,  though  he  was  rich ;  fbr 
society  in  the  East  is  not  divided  by  dift'erencQ  of  culture,  as  it  is  with 
us;  the  poorest  bear  themselves  with  a  natural  self-respect  which  brings 
them  closer  to  the  rich  than  is  the  case  with  the  same  class  in  the 
"West.  The  humblest  man  in  a  village  comes  in  at  the  open  door  of  a 
rich  man's  house,  to  enjoy  the  spectacle  of  a  merry-making,  without  a 
thought  of  impropriety  on  either  side.  And  there  is  no  distinction  of 
caste  in  Eastern  worship.  The  merchant,  tlie  herdsman,  the  slave,  and 
the  beggar,  kneel  promiscuously  on  the  floor  of  the  rnosqt  ^,  or  join 
hands  in  the  ring  formed  round  a  saint's  tomb,  at  a  "zikr;"*  and  a 
man  in  the  very  meanest  garment  walks  into  the  presence  of  a  gover- 
nor to  speak  with  him,  without  the  slightest  constraint  on  the  one  side 
or  feeling  of  intrusion  on  the  other. 

Besides  inviting  Ruth  to  a  share  of  the  '*  parched  corn  "  and  the 
"vinegar,"  Boaz  also  told  her  that  she  was  free  to  drink  from  the  water- 
jars,  or  water-skins,  when  she  felt  thirsty,*  just  as  a  modern  farmer 
might  show  a  similar  courtesy  to  a.  modern  gleaner,  water  being  a 
necessary  in  the  field,  in  such  a  climate.  Indeed,  we  see  in  the  tomb- 
paintings  of  Egypt  a  similar  provision  of  water  in  skins  and  jars,  from 
which  reapers  and  gleaners  alike  quench  their  thirst.  But  it  seems  as 
if  the  refreshments  of  the  field  were  not  confined  to  water,  vinegar,  and 
parched  corn,  for  we  read  that  Boaz  "  had  eaten  and  drunk,  and  his 
heart  was  merry,"  before  he  went  to  lie  down  at  tlie  end  of  the  mound 
of  threshed  grain  ;5  and  in  the  story  of  the  churlish  Nabal  we  have  an 
instance  of  a  harvest-feast  on  a  very  liberal  scale ;  while  Abigail  car- 
ried to  David,  as  his  share  of  the  bounties  dispensed  at  the  harvest- 
home,  not  only  parched  corn,  but  loaves  of  bread,  skins  of  wine,  roasted 
sheep,  clusters  of  raisins,  and  cakes  of  figs.®  It  is  not,  indeed,  to  be 
supposed  that  this  was  the  everyday  fare  of  either  reapers  or  master, 

1  Butb  U.  17.    2  Butb  ii.  17.    3  See  ante,  p.  177.   4  i;'Jth  ii.  9.   6  Buth  111.  7.   6  Sam.  xxf.  IS-Mi 


K  - 


And  David  was  then  in  an  hold,  and  the 
garrison  of  tlie  Pliilistines  was  then  in  Beth- 
lehem. And  David  longed,  and  said,  Oli 
that  one  would  give  nie  drink  of  the  water 
of  the  well  of  Beth-lehem,  which  is  by  the 
gate. 

And  the  three  mighty  men  brake  through 
the  host  of  the  Philistines,  and  drew  water 


out  of  the  well  of  Beth-lehem,  that  was  by 
the  gate,  and  took  it,  and  brought  it  to  Da- 
vid: nevertheless  he  would  not  drink  there- 
of, but  poured  it  out  unto  the  Lord. 

And  he  said,  Be  it  far  from  nie,  O  Lord, 
that  I  should  do  this  :  is  not  this  the  blood 
of  the  men  that  went  in  jeopardy  of  their 
lives?  therefore  he  would  not  drink  it. — 
2  Sam.  xxiii.  14-17. 


DAVID'S  WELL  AT  BETHLEHEM.    (See  page  267.) 


XIX.] 


BETHLEHEM. 


266 


for  the  habits  of  the  East  are  very  simple;  but  it  marked,  at  any  rate, 
the  finishing  of  the  year's  work.  Homer's  description  of  the  harvesit- 
field  closes  tlie  labors  of  the  day  with  a  substantial  repast: — 

"  A  field 
Crowded  with  corn,  in  which  the  reapers  toiled, 
Each  with  a  sliarp-tooth'd  sickle  in  liis  hand. 
Along  the  furrow  liere,  tlie  harvest  fell 
In  frequent  liandfuls;  there,  they  bound  the  sheaves. 
Three  binders  of  tlie  sheaves  tlieir  sultry  tusk 
All  plied  industriou"  and,  behind  them,  boys 
Attended,  filling  with  the  corn  their  arms, 
And  offering  still  their  bundles  to  be  bound. 
Amid  them,  stuiFin  hand,  the  master  stood 
Silent  exulting,  while,  beneath  an  oak 
Apart,  his  heralds  busily  prepared 
The  banquet,  dressing  a  well-thriven  ox. 
New  slain,  and  the  attendant  maidens  mixed 
Large  supper  for  the  hinds,  of  whitest  flour. "^ 

Yet  the  parched  corn  and  vinegar  would  be  the  usual  fare,  as  it  is  now ; 
a  feast  like  that  of  Nabal's  men,  or  the  one  depicted  by  Homer,  would 
be  the  great  event  when  all  was  over.  I  certainly  never  heard  of  such 
a  thing,  and  the  manners  of  the  East  do  not  change. 

Ruth's  mode  of  calling  the  attention  of  Boaz  to  her  claims  on  him 
as  her  next-of-kin,  or  "goel,"  bound  to  "redeem  "  her  from  the  calamity 
of  widowhood  by  lionorable  marriage,  seems  strange  to  us,  but  is  quite 
in  keeping  with  the  everyday  life  of  Eastern  countries.  Boaz  himself 
praises  her  for  it,  finding  a  proof  of  special  worth  in  her  having  sought 
him,  an  old  man,  for  a  husband,  instead  of  "  following  young  men, 
whether  rich  or  poor."^  Naomi,  however,  had  made  a  mistake  in 
sending  her  to  Boaz,  as  there  was  a  still  nearer  kinsman ;  so  that  Boaz, 
however  love-sick,  could  not  marry  her  till  the  other  had  refused  to 
do  so. 

Orientals  cover  their  head  and  their  feet  when  they  go  to  sleep,  but 
both  sexes  lie  down  in  the  clothes  worn  through  the  day,  so  that  they 
can  easily  rest  in  the  warm  months  wherever  night  overtakes  them, 
without  any  preparation.  Nor  was  there  anything  in  Ruth's  action  to 
shock  conventional  propriety,  for  she  followed  the  advice  of  the  pure 
and  godly  Naomi,  and  was  commended  by  Boaz  himself  as  a  woman 
known  by  all  the  town  for  her  virtuous  character.' 

The  refusal  of  a  next-of-kin  to  do  his  duty,  by  marrying  the  widow 
of  his  brother  or  other  relative,  was  the  occasion  of  a  curious  custom 
in  ancient  Israel.     "  If  the  man  likes  not  to  take  his  brother's  [or  kins- 

1  niad,  bk.  xviii.  (Cowper).  2  Butb  ill.  10.   8  Buth  iU.  U. 


2dd 


tfiB  HOLT  tAI^D  A^D  tHE  BI^LlC. 


tOHAfr. 


man's]  widow,"  says  Deuteronomy,  "  then  let  the  widow  go  up  to  the 
gate  [of  the  town  ^r  village,  where  all  public  business  is  transacted] 
unto  the  elders,  and  say,  My  husband's  brother  or  [kinsman]  refuseth 
to  raise  up  to  his  brother  a  name  in  Israel;  he  will  not  perform  the 
duty  of  my  husband's  brother  [or  kinsman].  Then  the  elders  of  the 
city  shall  call  him  and  speak  unto  him,  and  if  he  stand  to  it,  and  say, 
I  like  not  to  take  her;  tlien  shall  his  brother's  widow  come  unto  him 
in  the  presence  of  the  elders,  and  loose  his  shoe  from  oft'  his  foot,  and 
spit  in  his  face,  and  shall  answer  and  say,  "So  shall  it  be  done  unto 
tliat  man  that  will  not  build  up  his  brother's  house.  And  his  name 
shall  be  called  in  Israel,  The  house  of  him  that  hath  his  shoe  loosed."^ 
In  Ruth's  case,  however,  it  would  seem  that  the  refractory  kinsman 
drew  off  his  own  shoe,  and  handed  it  to  Boaz  as  a  sign  of  the  transfer- 
ence of  his  rights  over  Ruth.^  May  we  see  an  explanation  of  this, 
though  a  veiy  prosaic  one,  in  a  custom  which  is  still  observed  by  the 
Jews  of  Barbary  in  a  marriage?  "When  the  bride  enters  the  room 
whe^  the  bridegroom  awaits  her,  as  she  crosses  the  thresliold,  he  stoops 
down,  and,  slipping  off  his  shoe,  strikes  her  with  the  heel  of  it  on  the 
nnpe  of  the  neck,"*  as  a  sign  and  public  acknowledgment  that  she  is 
his  wife ;  a  husband  only  having  the  right  he  has  thus  exercised.  So 
the  ungracious  kinsman,  in  handing  over  his  shoe  to  Boaz,  gave  up  to 
him  his  matrimonial  riglits,  of  which  the  use  of  the  slipper  in  a  sum- 
mary way,  should  discipline  require  it,  was  the  acknowledged  symbol. 
I  have  no  doubt  that  Boaz,  a  respectable,  formal,  elderly  man,  was 
careful  to  assert  his  supremacy  and  the  obedience  dve  by  Ruth  in  the 
usual  way ;  but  we  may  be  vory  sure  that  the  tap  on  i  er  shoulders  on 
the  marriage-day  was  the  first  and  last  occasion  of  hiii  needing  to  use 
this  mild  substitute  for  the  modern  hob-nailed  boot. 

The  marriage  thus  strangely  brought  about,  and  as  strangely  cele- 
brated by  the  transferance  of  the  masterful  sandal,  was,  as  all  know, 
most  happy  in  its  results.  It  gave  Ruth,  as  her  husband,  the  repre- 
sentative of  one  of  the  oldest  families  of  Bethlehem,  for  Boaz  was 
descended  from  the  greatest  house  of  Judah,  that  of  Pharez:*  a  line 
which,  from  David's  time,  was  famous  for  the  illustrious  warriors  it 
gave  the  State,''  the  royal  house  itself  being  its  head;  a  line,  too, 
which  became  so  numerous  that  468  sons  of  "  Perez"  came  back  with 
Zerubbabel  from  Babylon,  Zerubbabel  himself  being  one  of  the  stock.* 
Ibzan,  the  Bethlehemite,  who  judged  Israel  for  seven  years  after  Jeph- 
thah,'^  and  who  had  thirty  sons  and  thirty  daughters,is  asserted  in  the 
Talmud  to  have  been  no  other  than  Boaz  himself:  a  point  difficult  to  set- 
tle. But  it  is  through  his  grandson  Jesse  that  the  husband  of  Ruth  is 
most  illustrious,  for  the  youngest  of  Jesse's  sons,  as  every  one  knows,  was 

1  Deut.  XXV.  7—10.  2  Ruth  iv.  8.  3  PtUara  of  Hercules,  1.  805.  4  Or  "Perez"  (Oen.  xzxvili.  29; 
Ruth  iv.  12;  Matt.  i.  3.).  5  1  Chron.  xxvii.  2.  3;  xi.  11;  2  Sam.  xxiii.  8.  6  1  Chrou.  ix.  4;  Neh.  xl.  4 
-6 ;  1  Esdr.  v.  6.   7  Judg.  xii.  8—10. 


Xix.) 


6ETHLEHEM. 


m 


no  other  than  David.  Tradition  reports  that  Jesse  spent  his  days  in 
Bethlehem,  a  weaver  of  veils  for  the  Temple,  thougn,  so  far  as  we 
know,  his  wealtli  consisted  mainly  in  some  slieep  and  goats  which  David 
tended.^  But  lie  must  have  Men  a  village  dignitary  as  well  as  a 
worth V  man,  to  have  his  name  so  persistently  given  in  connection 
with  his  greatest  sou,  who  is  constantlv  mentioned  as  "the  son  of 
Jesse,"  while  the  Saviour  Himself  is  proclaimed  as  a  "shoot  out  of  the 
stock  of  Jesse,"  and  "  the  root  of  Jesse  which  should  stand  as  an 
ensign  to  the  people."*  Jesse  must  have  owned  land  in  Bethlehem, 
perhaps  the  fields  of  his  grandfather  Boaz,  for  David  gave  away 
ground  near  the  village  ;^  and,  indeed,  if  Jesse  had  not  been  the  lead* 
ing  man  of  the  place,  he  could  hardly  have  presided  with  the  village 
elders  at  the  sacrificial  feast  of  the  community,  held  on  the  first  new 
moon  of  each  year,  as  we  find  him  doing  when  the  Pro{5het  Samuel 
came  to  anoint  his  shepherd-son.* 

There  are  not  many  incidents  connecting  David  with  Bethlehem, 
though  he  lived  in  it  till  after  his  victory  over  Goliath."*  We  learn, 
however,  that  even  while  in  the  court  of  Saul,  he  continued  to  visit 
the  place  at  the  yearly  sacrificial  feast  of  the  family.*  Just  before  you 
reach  the  town,  on  the  flat  sheet  of  rock  on  which  our  tents  vere 
pitched,  were  three  round  walls,'  or  rather  well-shafts,  to  the  largest 
of  which  the  name  of  David's  "Well  is  given,  though  on  \;hat 
authority  it  is  hard  to  tell.  The  largest  of  the  three  openings  proved 
to  be  twenty-six  feet  deep,  but  it  is  partly  filled  with  stones,  so  that  the 
original  depth  cannot  be  known.  Between  two  and  three  feet  of  water 
stood  at  the  bottom ;  but  the  other  openings,  which  were  about  twelve 
feet  deep,  were  dry.  Tlie  water  in  the  first  pit  was  fresh  and  good, 
like  that  of  a  spring,  and  it  is  likely  that  it  flows  from  one,  though 
most  of  the  water  seems  to  find  some  escape  through  the  rocks.  In 
David's  time  it  may  have  risen  much  higher  in  the  shaft.  Situated  at 
the  only  spot  where  "  a  gate  "  could  have  been  built — the  north  end  of 
the  town,  which  alone  joins  the  country  without  an  intervening  valley 
— this  well  seems  fairly  entitled  to  be  regarded  as  that  from  which  the 
precious  draught  was  brought  to  the  shepherd- king.  It  is,  by  the 
way,  the  only  spring  in  Bethlehem,  the  town  depending  entirely  on 
cisterns. 

As  the  shafts  are  entirely  unprotected,  they  were  a  terror  to  me  in 
the  night,  notwithstanding  their  venerable  associations ;  for  a  sudden 
disappearance  into  one  of  them  would  have  left  little  hope  of  escape. 
There  is  another  well,  however,  which  the  monks  honor  with  the  name 
of  David,  about  three-quarters  of  a  mile  north-east  of  Bethlehem, 
beyond  the  valley  beneath  the  town ;  but  it  is  much  more  probable 

1  lSain.x7i.il;  xTii.  34, 85.   2  Isa.  xi.  1, 10.   3  2  f^^m.  xix.  87, 38 ;  Jer.  xll.  17.   4  1  Sam.  xvi.  8-5. 
ft  1  Sam.  xTii.  12,  fl.   6  1  Sam.  xx.  6.    7  It  is  said  tk  .t  tliere  are  five  sliafts,  but  I  saw  only  three. 


268 


THE   HOLY   LAND  AND  THE   BIBLE. 


[Cbap. 


that  the  one  at  my  tent-side  was  that  from  which  ho  longed  for  a 
draught  of  water:  a  gratification  obtained  for  him  at  the  risk  of  their 
lives  by  three  mighty  men  of  his  band.^  Somewhere,  also,  in  Bethlelium, 
in  his  father's  sepulchre,  lies  tlio  striuliiig  Asaiiel,  David's  cousin,  so 
swift  of  foot,  and  who  was  slain  by  A  oner  in  self-defence.*  In  times 
far  earlier,  the  village  had  been  the  home  of  Jonathan,  the  sou  or 
descendant  of  Gershom  the  son  of  Moses,  and  whoso  name  has  been 
changed  by  the  rabbis  into  Manaaseh,  to  screen  the  memory  of  the 
great  lawgiver  from  the  stain  of  having  so  unworthy  an  apostate 
among  his  near  posterity.  For  it  was  this  Jonathan  who  wandered  to 
the  north,  and,  after  serving  as  ])rie8t  in  the  idol-house  of  Micah  the 
Ephraimite,  became  priest  of  the  graven  ima,i.'o  at  Dan:  an  office 
wnich  continued  in  his  family  till  the  Cnptivitv."  Yet  the  greatest 
honor  of  Bethlehem,  unique  iu  the  history  of  the  world,  and,  indeed, 
of  the  universe,  was  that  foretold  by  Micah  : — "But  thou,  Bethlehem- 
Ephratah,  though  thou  bo  little  among  the  thousands  of  Judah,  yet 
out  of  thee  shall  He  come  forth  unto  mo  that  is  to  be  ruler  in  Israel ; 
whose  goings  forth  have  been  from  of  old,  from  everlasting.''*  For  iu 
this  small  village  was  born  the  Saviour  of  the  world. 

Looking  along  the  sweeping  vallev  to  the  south-east,  beyond  the 
fields  to  which  Kuth  "  went  down,"  the  eye  rests  on  softly-rising  hills, 
to  the  south  of  which  she  could  see  those  of  Moab,  so  sadly  dear  to  her, 
rising  purple  beyond  the  Dead  Sea.  The  slopes  of  the  hills  close  at 
hand  are  those,  as  tradition  maintains,  on  which  the  shepherds  were 
watching  by  night,  when  the  angel  and  the  heavenly  choir  appeared, 
to  announce  the  birth  of  Ilini  who  was  "Christ,  the  Lord.''  Tiie 
grey,  barren  wilderness  of  Judaea  creeps  up  to  them,  but  they  are, 
themselves,  comparatively  green.  A  clump  of  olive-trees  surrounds  a 
ruin  fancifully  supposed  to  be  that  of  the  shepherds'  tower.  The  wall 
still  seen  is  of  good-sized  stones,  left  there  because  building  material 
is  abundant  in  tho  neighborhood.  Old  gnarled  olives,  their  trunks 
riven,  twisted,  pierced  by  age,  and  disproportionately  large  for  their 
crown  of  silver-green  leaves,  give  a  touch  of  beauty  to  the  baldness  of 
of  the  landscape,  and  afford  shade  to  the  peasant  while  tending  the 
long-eared,  broad-tailed  sheep,  and  lively  black  goats,  that  browse 
among  them.  Bare-legged,  bare-armed,  with  huge  slippers,  it  may  be, 
and  a  white  or  colored  kerchief,  old  and  faded,  round  liis  close-fitting 
skull-cap ;  over  his  blue  shirt,  which  reaches  to  his  calves,  a  striped 
abba,  rude  enough  in  its  tailoring,  rather  a  square  bag  than  a  coat,  a 
leather  belt  keeping  it  tight  round  him, — he  sits  there  in  the  spring 
time,  among  the  red  anemones,  tulips,  and  poppies,  the  short  lived 
glories  of  the  pastures  of  Palestine,  and  looks  tne  picture  of  vacuity, 
his  staff  on  the  ground  beside  him,  and  his  club  tied  to  his  girdle. 
1  2  Sam.  zzUi.  14 ;  1  Cbron.  xl.  17.  2  2  Sam.  11. 32.  8  Judg.  xvlil.  80.   4  llicah  v.  2. 


It! 


XIX.] 


BETHLEHEM. 


269 


Born  of  hereditary  ignorance,  his  intelligence  is  little  superior  to  that 
of  the  sheep  he  watches. 

Bethlehem  stands  100  feet  higher  than  Jerusalem^  being  2,550  feet 
above  the  sea  at  its  highest  point.  But  the  neighboring  hills  are 
lower  than  those  round  the  Holy  City,  and  there  is  more  cultivation; 
Bethlehem  looks  slightly  down  on  its  surrounding  heightSj  while 
Jerusalem  is  commanded  by  its  girdle  of  hills.  The  population  of 
David's  city  consists  of  Latin,  Greek,  and  Arnenian  Christians,  through 
the  influence  of  the  triple,  fortress-like  convent  round  the  ancient 
church,  but  they  are  on  good  terms  with  each  other,  and  even  inter- 
marry, which  .these  rival  sects  seldom  do  in  Jerusalem.  The  Eoman 
Catholics  have  splendid  school-buildings,  much  larger  and  finer  than 
any  others,  and  I  have  no  doubt  they  do  much  good. 

I  did  not  see  any  tattooing  among  the  women,  and,  indeed,  through- . 
out  Palestine,  there  is  little  of  it,  compared  with  the  fashion  in  Egypt, 
where  the  features  and  arms  are  often  quite  disfigured.  The  peasant- 
women  of  the  Holy  Land,  with  better  taste,  confine  themselves  to  a 
mark  on  the  palms  of  their  hands,  between  the  eyes,  and  on  the  chin, 
with  a  row  of  small  points  along  the  lower  lip,  producing  an  effect 
something  like  that  of  the  patches  worn  last  century  by  English  ladies. 
But  the  women  of  Bethlehem  are  superior  to  these  rude  follies. 
Thanks,  perhaps,  to  +he  blood  of  the  Crusaders,  of  a  share  of  which 
they  boast,  they  are  altogether  finer  than  any  women  I  saw  elsewhere 
in  Palestine,  with  the  exception,  perhaps,  of  those  of  Nazareth.  The 
population  is  said  to  be  about  4,000. 

Though  the  town  was  walled  in  the  time  of  Boaz,  when  the  elders 
"sat  in  the  gate,"  and  when  Eehoboam  fortified  it,^  there  are  no  walls 
now.  The  flat  roofs  join  each  other  in  many  cases,  and  thus  afford  an 
easy  passage  from  one  house  to  another,  which  is  often  used.  Thi» 
explams  our  Lord's  counsel  to  His  disciples^  not  to  think,  when 
troubles  burst  on  the  land,  of  coming  down  to  take  anything  out  of 
the  house,  if  they  chanced  to  be  on  the  housetop  at  the  moment  the 
news  reached  them.  They  were  rather  to  flee  along  the  roofs,  and 
thus  escape.  The-  local  tradesmen  sometimes  press  one  to  come  into 
their  dwellings  to-  inspect  their  wares,  and  an  opportunity  is  thus  given 
of  seeing  the  inside  of  a  Bethlehem  establishment.  The  room  is  of 
arched  stone,  without  furniture,  except  the  inevitable  divan,  or  broad 
seat  along  the  wall;  and  the  women  have  no  timidity  at  your  entrance. 
Squatted  on  the  floor,  one,  it  may  be,  is  busy  sewing  while  she  watches 
lier  baby  in  the  cradle,  another  is  preparing  to  bake,  and  a  third  will 
bring  you  a  water-pipe  and  a  glass  of  water,  while  you  look  over  the 
crucifixes,  rosaries,  olive-wood  boxes,  mother-of-pearl  carved  shells, 
and  little  jars  and  cups  of  asphalt,  or  red  stone. 
I  t^m  lY.  1 ;  2  Chron.  xi.  6, 6.  2  l(«tt.  xxiv.  17 ;  M^rk  x|i|.  16;  Luke  xyU.  91. 


■ 


270 


THE   HOLY   LAND   AND  THE   BIBLE. 


[Chap. 


Talking  of  housetops  reminds  one  of  the  variety  of  allusions  to  them 
in  the  Bible.  Samuel  communed  with  Saul  on  the  housetop,*  for 
privacy,  so  that  his  dwelling  must  have  been  flat-roofed.  Absalom 
spread  a  tent  on  the  top  of  David's  house  for  his  father's  wives,  that  it 
might  be  seen  by  all  Israel  that  he  had  assumed  the  throne,  by  his 
taking  them  as  his  own.'-^  "It  is  better,"  says  tlie  Book  of  Proverbs, 
"to  dwell  in  a  corner  of  the  housetop  than  with  a  brawling  woman  in 
a  wide  house  ;"^  nor  would  it  be  any  great  hardship  to  do  so  in  Pales- 
tine in  the  hot  weather,  for  in  the  summer  months  the  roof  is  the  best 
sleeping-place.  The  text,  however,  doubtless  means  that  even  in  the 
colder  season  any  wretched  spot,  though  exposed  alike  to  rain  and  wind, 
is  better  than  the  best  room  with  the  company  of  a  scold.  Who  would 
have  thought  that  old  Hebrew  families  were  ever  thus  miserable? 

When  the  paralytic  was  brought  to  Jesus,  his  bearers  took  him  up 
the  outside  stairs,  so  common  still  in  the  court  or  yard,  and  carried 
him  to  the  housetop.  Many  roofs  have  a  hatchway  opening  into  the 
room  below,  but  closed  in  the  cold  months;  and  this  having  been 
lifted,  it  was  easy  to  let  the  man  down  at  the  feet  of  the  Saviour.*  His 
couch,  we  may  be  sure,  was  simply  a  hammock,  offering  no  difficulty 
to  his  entrance  through  the  opening.  To  think  of  his  bearers  breaking 
up  the  roof,  is  out  of  the  question.  If  cemented,  it  would  be  quite  a 
task  to  do  so,  and  the  house  would  have  been  spoiled ;  nor  would  it 
have  been  much  better  had  it  been  necessary  to  tear  or  break  a  way 
through  a  thick  bedding  of  earth  and  boughs,  such  as  we  find  in  some 
places.  The  crowd  below  would  have  been  very  soon  scattered  by 
such  a  rain  .  f  dust  and  clods — not  to  speak  of  broken  sticks  or  stalks 
— as  would  have  come  down  on  them.  There  was  just  such  a  hatch- 
way as  I  have  described  on  the  top  of  the  schoolhouse  of  the  American 
Mission  at  Assiout,  in  Egypt,  and  they  are  common  in  Palestine. 
Isaiah  speaks  of  the  people  of  Moab  assembling  on  their  housetops, 
"howling  and  weeping  abundantly"  at  the  news  of  the  taking  of  their 
capital  by  the  foe,^  and  of  the  population  of  Jerusalem  as  "  wholly 
gone  up  to  the  housetops"^  to  look  out  for  the  Assyrians  coming  to 
attack  them,  or  at  the  country  people  streaming  through  the  gates  for 
protection,  or  in  hopes  of  catching  sight  of  the  standards  of  Tirhakah 
advancing  to  their  deliverance.'  Jeremiah,  like  Isaiah,  predicted  that 
there  would  be  "lamentation  upon  all  the  housetops  of  Moab."*  The 
Jews,  in  their  apostasy,  copied  the  evil  example  of  Ahaz  in  erecting 
altars  to  the  host  of  heaven  on  the  top  of  his  house,^  for  they  built 
private  ones  for  the  same  idolatry  on  their  own  roofs,  and  burnt 
incense  upon  them.*®  And  Christ,  again,  tells  His  disciples  to  use  the 
low  housetops  for  a  pulpit  from  which  to  proclaim  the  glad  news  He 
had  told  tiiem.ii 


1  1  Sam.  ix.  26.  2  2  8ain.  xvl.  22.  3  Prov.  xxl.  9. 
7  Geikie,  Hours  u^U^  the  Bible,  iv.  440.  8  Jer.  xlviii.  81 
W,    UJI»tt,x.87, 


4  Luke  V.  19.    6  Isa.  zv.  3.    6  Isa.  xxii.  1. 
9  2  Klnj^s  xxii.  12.  10  Zepb.  i.  6  {  Jer,  xlx. 


CHAP. 


them 
,1  for 
lalom 
bat  it 
)y  his 
verbs, 
I  an  in 
Pales- 
e  best 
in  the 
I  wind, 
would 

e? 

aim  up 
carried 
nto  the 
ig  been 
*    His 
if&culty 
ireaking 
I  quite  a 
jvould  it 
k  a  way 
in  some 
;ered  by 
or  stalks 
a  hatch - 
American 
'alestine. 
ousetops, 
r  of  their 
'"wholly 
joming  to 

gates  for 
Tirhakah 
icted  that 

;'8  The 
n  erecting 
they  built 
and  burnt 

to  use  the 
a  news  He 


Pasture  near  Bethlehem .    (See  page  268 . ) 


6  Isa.  xxll.  1. 
1.1.6?  JeMStX* 


) 


XX.] 


BETHLEHEM  TO  JERUSALEM. 


271 


CHAPTER  XX. 


BETHLEHEM  TO    JERUSALEM. 

It  brings  very  forcibly  before  the  mind  bow  small  a  country  Pales- 
tine is,  to  find  that  the  chief  scenes  of  David's  life,  before  lie  reigned  in 
Jerusalem,  lie  within  a  circle  of  not  more  than  twelve  or  fifteen  miles 
round  his  native  village.  It  was  only  a  three  or  four  hours'  journey 
for  the  boy  from  Bethlehem  to  Saul's  camp  at  Socoh ;  and  by  starting 
early,  as  he  would,  he  could  readily  have  been  among  the  fighting  men 
in  the  beginning  ol*  the  forenoon,  so  as  to  leave  abundant  time  for  his 
magnificent  duel  with  Goliath.  It  would  be  little  for  one  so  strong 
and  active,  to  go  on  his  venturous  challenge  down  the  stony,  brush- 
wood-covered hill  on  which  his  brothers  and  the  other  Hebrews  stood 
drawn  up,  across  the  half-mile  of  broad,  flat  valley,  now  covered  every 
season  with  grain,  then  over  the  narrow  trench  in  the  middle  full  of 
white  pebbles  worn  by  the  rain ;  nor  would  it  have  been  more  than 
a  youth  could  do  without  special  eftbrt,  to  return  again  the  same  night 
to  his  father's  house  in  Bethlehem.  AduUam,  Keilah,  Carmel,  Ziph, 
"all  lie  within  a  small  circle:  David's  adventures,  indeed,  during  several 
years,  may  all  be  followed  in  a  space  smaller  almost  than  any  of  our 
Englisli  counties. 

But  it  was  time  to  leave  this  most  interesting  spot,  where,  in  David's 
own  words— called  forth,  it  may  be,  by  the  scenery  round  his  native 
town — "the  little  hills  rejoice  on  every  side:  the  pastures  are  clothed 
with  flocks,  and  the  valleys  are  covered  over  with  com."^  It  takes 
but  a  few  minutes  to  strike  a  tent,  and  a  very  short  time  to  pack  it  on 
the  backs  of  the  patient  donkeys,  so  that  we  were  soon  on  the  way  to 
Jerusalem.  The  road  was  thronged  with  town  and  country  people, 
going  to  their  gardens,  or  bringing  loads  from  them.  Asses  quietly 
pattered  on  beneath  huge  burdens  of  cauliflowers  large  enough  to 
rejoice  the  heart  of  an  English  gardener.  Camels  stalked  up  the  hill 
with  loads  of  building  stone :  their  drivers  with  clubs  in  their  girdles. 
Men  and  women,  in  picturesque  dress,  passed  this  way  and  that  as  we 
jogged  down  towards  Pilate's  Aqueduct,  which  runs  level  with  the 
ground,  or  nearly  so,  is  covered  with  flat  unhewn  stones,  and  would  be 
overlooked  as  only  a  common  wall  but  for  openings  at  intervals  through 
which  the  running  water  is  seen.  The  road  turns  straight  to  the  north, 
with  stony  fields  on  the  right,  and  a  narrow  open  hollow  of  olives  on 
the  left,  the  ground  slowly  rising  on  this  side,  however,  till  at  Rachel's 
grave,  about  a  mile  from  Bethlehem,  there  is  for  the  time  a  level  space, 
well  strewn,  as  usual,  with  gtones  of  all  siaes, 


272 


THE   HOLY  LAND  AND  THE   BIBLE. 


[Chap. 


The  place  where  the  mother  of  Joseph  and  Benjamin,  the  patriarch 
Jacob's  early  and  abiding  love,  is  buried,  is  one  of  the  few  spots 
respecting  which  Christian,  Jew,  and  Mahommedan  agree.  The  pres* 
ent  building  consists  of  four  square  walls,  each  twenty-tiireo  foet  long, 
and  about  twenty  feet  high,  with  a  flat  roof,  from  which  a  dome,  witli 
the  plaster  over  it  in  sad  disrepair,  rises  for  about  ten  feet  more.  The 
masonry  is  rough  :  the  stones  set  in  rows,  with  no  attemi)t  at  finish,  or 
even  exact  regularity.  Originally  there  was  a  large  arch  in  each  of 
the  walls,  which  between  them  enclose  an  open  space,  but  these  arches 
have  at  some  time  been  built  up.  The  building  dates,  perhaps,  from 
the  twelfth  century,  though  tiie  earliest  notice  we  have  of  it  is  a  slcctch 
in  an  old  Jewish  book  of  the  year  a.  d.  1537.  Joined  to  tiio  back  of 
it  is  another  building  consisting  of  four  stone  walls  coarsely  built,  and 
about  thirteen  feet  high,  the  space  enclosed  being  thirteen  feot  deep 
and  twenty-three  feet  broad — that  is,  as  broad  as  the  domed  building  ; 
with  a  flat  roof.  Behind  this  again,  the  walls  are  continued,  at  tlie 
same  height,  for  twenty-three  feet  more  each  way,  forming  a  covered 
court,  used  for  prayer  by  the  Mahommedans.  Under  the  dome  stamls 
an  empty  tomb  of  modern  appearance,  but  entrance  to  this  ])art,  and 
also  to  the  second  chamber,  is  in  the  hands  of  the  Jews,  who  visit  it  on 
Fridays.  The  pillar  erected  by  Jacob  has  long  since  dis«i)pearcd,  hav- 
ing apparently  been  replaced  at  various  times  by  dift'erent  construc- 
tions. No  part  of  the  present  building,  I  may  say,  except  the  high 
domed  part,  is  older,  apparently,  than  the  present  century. 

The  stone  raised  by  Jacob  in  memory  of  his  much-loved  wife  has 
been  turned  to  wonderful  account  by  recent  "advanced  critics"  of  the 
Old  Testament,  who  have  founded  on  this  simple  act  the  astounding 
assertion  that  Jacob  and  the  patriarchs  were  sun-worshippers,  and  this 
poor  headstone  an  idolatrous  sun-pillar,  such  as  were  set  up  in  the  tem- 
ples of  Baal  and  Astarte,  the  foul  gods  of  Canaan.^  This  amazing 
theory  rests,  like  a  pyramid  on  its  sharp  end,  on  the  minute  fact  that 
the  word  for  the  obelisks  raised  to  the  sun-god  was  used  also  for  such 
memorials  as  this  tombstone  to  Rachel,  or  that  erected  in  attestation 
of  the  covenant  between  Jacob  and  Laban,  or  for  the  stone  set  up  by 
Jacob  himself  at  Bethel  on  his  return  to  Canaan,  as  a  witness  to  the 
second  covenant  made  with  him  there  by  Jehovah.^  Twelve  similar 
stones,  described  by  the  same  word,  were  erected  by  Moses  when  the 
Twelve  Tribes  accepted  the  covenant  made  with  them  by  God  t^  to 
remain  a  permanent  proof  of  their  having  done  so,  and  a  silent  plea 
for  their  fidelity.  Did  the  great  law-giver  who  proclaimed,  "  Hear,  0 
Israel,  Jehovah,  our  God,  is  one  Jehovah,"*  and  commanded!  that  Israel 
should  have  no  other  gods  before  Him,  or  make  any  graven  image,  or 

1  Robertson  Smith,  Old  Test,  in  the  Jewish  Church,  pp.  226,  353.    2  OOD.  XXVlii.  18. 22 :  xxxl.  13, 45, 51. 
&2;  XXXV.  14.   3  Exod.  xxlv.  4-7.   4  Deut.  vl.  4  (Heb.).  «.     •  "^    i    • 


\Bkr. 


arch 
jpots 
pres- 
long, 
■witli 

The 
3li,  or 
oil  of 
.rches 

I'rom 
kctoli 
ck  of 
It,  aiul 
t  tlocp 
kling  ; 
(It  tho 
ovcrcd 
stumla 
rt,  aiivl 
,it  it  on 
il,  Imv- 
nstruc- 
le  high 

rife  lias 

of  the 
mnding 
md  this 
he  tern- 
iiiiazing 
i\ot  that 
or  such 
estation 
up  by 
tjs  to  the 

similar 
irhen  the 
bd-.s  to 
lent  plea 

Hear,  0 
lat  Israel 

mage,  or 

xl.  13, 46, 51, 


Tomb  of  Bftcbel,    (.See  page  271 . ) 


XZ.] 


BETHLEHESM  TO  JERUSALEM. 


278 


likeness  of  anything  in  hea\en  above,  or  in  the  earth  ber^ath,  or  in 
tlie  water  under  the  earth^  ^lid  this  earnest  and  lofty  soul,  filled  with 
loyalty  to  the  one  living  and  true  God,  set  up  twelve  sun-pillars  in 
honor  of  Baal?  Credulity  lias  gone  a  gVeat  way  when  it  can  believe 
this,  nor  can  muoli  be  said  for  the  modesty  which  would  suggest  it. 

I  own  to  a  specially  kindly  feeling  to  Jacob  from  the  story  of  his 
aft'ectioii  for  his  first  love.  liow  tender  it  was,  is  seen,  as  has  been 
noticed  already,  by  his  going  back  to  the  scene  of  her  death  in  his 
dying  conversation  with  Joseph,  more  than  forty  vears  after  he  had 
lost  her .2  The  headstone  at  Bethlehem  was  still  oefore  his  eyes,  in 
these  last  hours  of  his  life,  and  she  was  as  precious  to  him  then  as 
when  she  first  won  his  heart,  seventy  years  before.  He  had  faults,  and 
great  ones,  but  the  man  who  is  capable  of  an  unchanging  love  has  a 
great  deal  in  him  to  respect. 

It  is  striking  how  much  there  is  in  the  story  of  the  patriarchs  which 
the  manners  of  the  East  even  yet  illustrate.  The  sending  of  Eliezer  to 
Mesopotamia  to  get  a  wife  for  Isaac  is  exactly  what  the  sheikh  of  an 
Arab  tribe  would  do  to-day.  A  Bedouin  always  marries  in  his  own 
clan,  and  will  take  any  trouble  to  do  so,  and  the  same  custom  prevails 
among  the  Hindoos ;  ^  while  there  was  a  strong  religious  motive  in  the 
directions  of  Abraham  on  this  point — to  keep  his  descendants  from 
going  over  to  the  idolatry  of  Canaan.*  What  Isaac  was  doing  when 
Rebekah  came  in  sight  has  been  vigorously  disputed.  Our  Bible  tells 
us  he  had  gone  out  to  meditate,**  but  a  great  German  scholar  maintains 
that  he  had  gone  out  to  collect  dry  stalks  and  weeds  for  the  evening 
fire,'  showing  no  little  ingenuity  in  defence  of  his  novel  interpretation, 
which,  indeed,  had  aire  ifly  been  suggested  by  some  of  the  rabbis.  He 
could,  to  be  sure,  meditate  while  at  his  task,  for  one  need  not  be  idle  to 
turn  his  thoughts  in  a  serious  direction,  and  in  the  East  no  detail  of 
tent  life  is  beneath  a  sheikh's  personal  attention  ;  for  we  are  told  that 
even  the  great  Abraham  ran  to  the  herd  and,  himself,  "fetched  a  calf, 
and  gave  it  to  a  young  man,  to  kill  and  dress  for  his  visitors."'  Just 
as  an  Arab  bride  would  do  now  in  being  brought  to  her  future  hus- 
band, Rebekah  "lighted  off  the  camel"  and  veiled  herself,*  because  she 
would  not  ride  while  he  was  on  foot,  and  she  could  not  allow  her  face 
to  be  seen  till  she  was  his  wife. 

Isaac  had  been  brought  up,  in  childhood,  in  his  mother  Sarah's  part 
of  the  tent,  shut  off  from  the  men's  part,  and  thither  he  took  his  bride, 
fortunately  "  loving  her  "  when  now  for  the  first  time  he  saw  her.  She 
would  be  led  to  it  by  her  nurse  and  her  maids  who  had  come  with  her, 
but,  one  by  one,  these  would  leave  her,  till  she  was  all  alone  with  the 
nurse,  wondering  whether  she  would  please  Isaac  when  he  came. 


1  Exod.  XX.  3,  4.     2  Gen.  xlvlii.  7.    3  Rosenmiiller,  A.  u.  N.  Morgenland,  1. 102. 
6  Gen.  xxiv.  63.    6  Bottcher,  Aekrente$e,  1. 19.   7  Qen.  xvlii.  7.   8  Gen.  xxiv.  Qi,  06. 

18 


i  Gen.  xxiT.  6. 


f 


■i 


274 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  THB  BIBLE. 


.  [CBAV. 


After  a  time,  the  nurse  would  throw  a  shawl  over  her  head,  and,  a  sig- 
nal having  been  given,  the  curtain  would  be  pushed  aside  lor  a  moment, 
and  the  bridegroom  would  enter,  and  tlie  iiuiso  witlidruw.  Man  and 
wife  would  thus  for  the  first  time  be  face  to  face.  Now  cnme  the 
moment  for  removing  the  veil,  or  shawl,  tliat  hid  the  bride's  face.  If 
he  had  been  a  modern  Oriental,  Isaac  would  have  said,  "  In  the  name 
of  God,  the  Compassionate,  the  Merciful,"  and,  then,  raising  the  shawl, 
would  greet  his  wife  with  the  words,  "Blessed  be  this  night,"  to  which 
her  answer  would  be,  "God  bless  thee."  This  was  the  first  time  Isaac 
had  seen  Kebekah  unveiled,  and  it  would  be  an  anxious  matter  for  the 
nurse  and  the  maids,  and,  above  all,  for  Rcbekah  herself,  whether  she 
pleased  or  disappointed  her  husband,  for  there  might  have  Ix'en  an 
antici.pfttion  of  Jacob's  trouble,  by  finding  a  Leah  instead  of  a  Kachcl. 
But  Rebekah's  facd  pleased  her  iuture  lord,  as,  indeed,  the  face  of  the 
bride  generally  does  a  bridegroom,  and  he  would  announce  this  fact  to 
the  anxious  women  outside,  who,  forthwith,  no  doubt,  set  up  a  shrill 
cry  of  delight,  just  as  their  sisters  who  stand  in  the  same  relation  to  a 
young  wife  do  now  To  the  Semitic  races  this  shout  of  the  triumphant 
and  satisfied  bridegroom  is  one  of  the  most  delightful  sounds  that  can 
be  uttered,  and  has  been  so  for  immemorial  ages ;  and  it  is  to  this  our 
Saviour  alludes  when  He  says,  "  He  that  hath  the  bride  is  tiie  bride- 
groom ;  but  the  friend  of  the  bridegroom,  who  standeth  and  heareth 
him,  rejoiceth  greatly  because  of  the  bridegroom/a  voice."  ^ 

The  characte'  of  Jacob  was  a  duplicate  of  that  of  his  mother.  As 
her  pet,  she  trained  him,  perhaps  unconsciously,  in  her  own  faults,  and 
he  was  clearly  an  apt  scholar.  The  sister  of  Laban,  a  man  full  of  craft 
and  deceit  like  most  Arabs,  was  not  likely  to  be  very  open  or  straight- 
forward. To  make  a  favorite  of  one  of  a  family,  at  least  so  as  to  show 
preference,  is  a  sign  of  narrow,  though  perhaps  deep,  aftection ;  but  to 
overreach  a  husband  like  Isaac,  for  the  injury  of  one  of  her  two  sons, 
was  as  heartless  as  it  was  ignoble.  Tlie  wonder  is  that,  with  such  a 
mother,  Jacob  was,  in  the  end,  even  as  worthy  as  he  proved  himself. 
His  being  a  plain  man,  living  in  tents,^  points  to  the  contrast  between 
the  wild  unsettledness  of  his  brother  and  his  own  quiet,  or,  we  might 
say,  "  domesticated  "  nature,  and  so  does  his  life  as  a  shepherd,  roving 
about  with  his  flocks  and  tents — a  life  greatly  honored  among  the 
Hebrews — while  Esau  spent  his  days  in  what  they  thought  the  rough, 
savage  pursuits  of  a  hunter.  The  red  pottage  of  lentils  for  wiiich 
Jacob  bought  the  birthright,^  is  still  a  favorite  dish  among  the  poorer 
classes  in  the  East ;  the  lentils  being  first  boiled,  and  then  made  tasty 
by  mixing  some  fat  with  them,*  or  olive-oil  and  pepper.  Barzillai,  it 
will  be  remembered,  brought  a  quantity  of  them,  among  other  things, 
with  him  to  Ma;ianaim,  as  a  gift  to  David,  during  the  rebellion  of 
1  Etwrs,  egyptt  ii«  96.   John  ill.  29.    2  Gen.  xxv.  27.    3  Gen.  zxt.  80.   4  Bobinson,  Bib,  Set.,  i.  2M, 


A». 


ZX.] 


BETHLEHEM  TO  JERUSALEM. 


275 


3tg' 

ent, 
Olid 
tlie 
If 
ame 
awl, 
UicU 
Isaao 
V  the 
r  she 
liw  an 
\cl\el. 
)f  tlio 
net  to 
sUrill 
II  to  a 
iphant 
at  can 
r.s  our 
briclc- 
learetli 

ir.    As 
Its,  nm\ 
of  craft 
traight- 
to  sliow 
;  but  to 
wo  sons, 
1  such  a 
himself, 
between 
/e  might 
3,  Toving 
iiong  the 
le  rough, 
or  wlncb 
he  poorer 
lade  tasty 
arzillai,  it 
ler  things, 
jbellion  of 
iib.  Bes.,  i.  a». 


Absalom  ;  and  we  find  that  in  times  of  soaroit^  in  tlie  days  of  Ezckiel 
they  were  mixed  with  wlieat  and  otiier  grain,  including  spelt,  to  make 
bread.^  Lentils  are  still  grown  in  great  quAUtities  in  Egypt,  and 
largely  in  Palestine,  where  que  might  tbinic  them  pens,  at  an  enrly 
stage  of  their  growth,  for  tliey  riae  only  to  a  height  of  six  or  eiglit 
inches,  and  have  tendrils  ixul  pods  hke  the  pea,  though  purple,  not 
green.  In  England  and  Wales  they  are  grown  as  food  for  cattle, 
though  it  would  be  a  bletsing  for  the  peasantry  if  they  recognized  their 
rich  nutritiousness,  and  used  them  for  themselves.  European  children 
born  in  Palestine  are  passionately  fond  of  lentil  porridge;  nature 
unchecked  by  prejudice,  turning  eagerlv  to  tliat  which  it  finds  best 
suited  to  its  wants.  Two  kinds  of  the  pfant  are  grown,  the  brown  and 
the  red  ;  the  latter  being  the  better.  .. 

The  deceit  of  Rebekah  and  Jacob  was  sorely  visited  on  both.  It 
must  have  been  a  great  trial  to  the  mother  to  lose  her  favorite  son  for 
ever,  for  Jacob  not  only  never  saw  his  mother  again,  but  lost  all  the 
fruit  of  his  years  of  toil  under  his  fntlier,  and  had  to  begin  the  world 
again  in  Mesopotamia,  with  a  very  hard  master;  spending  more  than 
twenty  years  oefore  he  had  flocks  enough  to  be  independent  of  him. 
But  Isaac  was  not  free  from  blame,  for  a  father  should  not  show  favor- 
itism in  his  family,  especially  if  it  rest  to  a  large  extent  on  so  poor  a 
basis  as  the  love  of  savory  meat.^  The  gazelles  which  Esau  hunted 
still  abound  in  the  Negeb,  where  Isaac  had  his  tents ;  and  it  must 
have  tasked  Rebekah's  skill  to  disguise  a  young  kid  so  as  to  give  it 
the  flavor  of  the  wild  creature.  It  may  seem  strange  to  read  that 
Isaac  "smelled"  Jacob's  clothes,^  but  in  India,  to  this  day,  a  similar 
custom  prevails ;  so  that  parents  will  compare  the  smell  of  a  child  to 
that  of  a  fragrant  plant,  and  a  good  man  will  be  spoken  of  as  having  a 
sweet  smell.* 

The  stone  at  Bethel^  would  have  been  a  hard  pillow  for  a  European, 
but  the  thick  turban  of  the  Oriental,  and  the  habit  of  covering  the 
head  with  the  outer  garment  during  sleep,  would  make  a  cushion. 
The  meeting  with  Rachel,  like  that  of  Eliezer  with  Rebekah,  is  true, 
in  the  minutest  touches,  to  Eastern  life.  Abraham's  deputy  makes  his 
camels  kneel  down,  without  the  city,  "by  a  well  of  water,  at  the  time 
of  evening;  the  time  that  women  go  out  to  draw  water;"  and  so 
would  an  Arab  now.  Wells  are  commonly,  though  not  always,  just 
outside  the  towns;  and  it  is  not  only  correct  that  evening  is  the  time 
for  drawing  water,  but  that  the  task  falls  to  the  women.  The  peasant 
is  then  returning  from  his  labor  in  the  field,  or  driving  home  his  small 
flock,  and  his  wife  and  daughters  have  the  evening  meal  to  prepare, 
for  which  water  is  needed.  It  is,  moreover,  the  cool  of  the  day.  At 
any  Eastern  village  you  meet  long  files  of  women  thus  occupied.  That 
1  Ezek.  iv.  9.  2  Gen.  xxvlL  4.   8  Qen.  xxvii.  27.   4  Roberts,  Indian  JOutlrtiHoiu.   5  Gen.  xxvili.  U. 


276 


tHfi   UOtY   LAI^I)  ANt)  THU  llIHLtl. 


tCnAl>. 


I 


Rolxikali  should  have  carried  her  wator-jnr  on  her  Hhouldor  is  another 
touch  of  exactness,  tor  Syrian  vvonien  still  carry  tlic  jar  thus,  while 
tlieir  Egyptian  sisters  balance  it  un  tlicir  houds. 

Jt  is  striking,  when  we  think  of  tlie  place  of  our  Saviour's  birth,  to 
read  of  the  camels  being  brought  into  Labau's  liouse.^  T  have  often 
seen  beasts  thus  pul  up  with  the  liouschokl.  ]n  the  same  way  we  can 
restore  the  whole  narrative  of  Jacob's  meeting  with  Kachel,*  from 
everyday  life  in  the  East  at  the  present  time.  The  well  is  in  the 
field  ;  that  is,  in  the  open  pasture-lanci.  Water  being  scarce,  all  the  flocks, 
for  miles  round,  meet  at  it  to  be  watered.  The  heavy  stone  rolled 
over  its  mouth  may  be  seen  by  any  traveller  in  many  parts  of  Pales- 
tine. The  daughters  of  the  flock-masters  still  go,  in  many  pierces,  to 
tend  and  water  the  flocks.  You  may  see  them  thus  engagea  near 
almost  any  Arab  tents  in  the  plain  of  Sharon  or  of  Philistia.  That 
Laban  kissed  Jacob  eft'usivelv  is  onlv  what  one  sees  Orientals  doing 
every  day,  on  meeting  a  neiglibor  or  friend.  The  wily  Syrian,  in  ad- 
mitting that  it  is  better  to  give  Rachel  to  the  son  of  Isaac  than  to 
another  man,  acted  simply  on  the  Bedouin  law  that  a  suitor  has  the 
exclusive  right  to  the  hand  of  his  first  cousin,  so  that  even  if  he  do 
not  himself  wish  to  marry  her,  she  cannot  be  married  without  his 
consent.  To  give  a  female  slave  to  a  daughter,  as  part  of  her  dowry, 
is  usual  now,  where  means  permit,  so  that  Zilpah's  being  given  to 
Leah  at  her  marriage  is  another  proof  of  the  unchanging  sameness  of 
Eastern  life  in  all  ages.  Excuses  for  sending  home  an  elder  daughter, 
instead  of  a  younger,  to  the  bridegroom,  need  still  to  be  made  in  not 
a  few  cases,  and  are  exactly  the  same  as  those  with  which  Laban 
palliated  the  substitution  of  Leah  for  Rachel.  The  mandrakes  found 
by  Reuben,  and  craved  by  Rachel,  are  still  in  demand  among  Eastern 
women,  in  the  same  belief  that  they  quicken  .  e,  and  have  other 
related  uses.  The  plant  is  not  rare  in  Palestine,  and  ripens  in  April  or 
Ma^.  It  has  long,  sharp-pointed,  hairy  leaves,  of  a  deep  green, 
springing  from  the  ground,  with  dingy  white  flowers  splashed  with 
purple,  aiid  fruit  which  the  Greeks  called  "love-apples,"  about  the  size 
of  a  nutmeg,  and  of  a  pale  orange  color;  the  root  striking  down  like  a 
forked  carrot.  It  is  closely  allied  to  the  deadly  nightshade,  and  has 
in  all  ages  been  famed,  not  only  among  women,  but  among  men,  in  the 
latter  case  for  its  qualities  as  an  intoxicant.  From  Leah  and  Rachel  the 
interest  in  the  mandrake  passed  down  through  each  generation  of 
their  Hebrew  descendants,  so  that  we  find  its  smell  very  appropriately 
introduced  in  the  Song  of  Songs  by  the  lovesick  maiden,  as  awaiting 
her  beloved  if  he  go  out  with  her  to  the  vineyard.^  The  wish  of  a 
wife  for  a  son,  as  a  surety  that  her  husband  will  not  divorce  her,  is  as 
much  a  characteristic  of  Eastern  women  to-day  as  it  was  in  the  time 
1  Gen.  zxlv.  31,  82.  2  Qen.  zxix.  8  Cant.  vU.  18. 


A  Jewish  oottoD  cleaner  removing  the  seeds  with  the  "  bow." 


in' 


I 


xx.i 


BETHLEHEM  TO  JERUSALEM. 


277 


of  the  patriarch,  as  has  been  already  noticed.  So  great  an  event  is  a 
son's  birth  tliat,  as  I  have  said,  a  father  is  no  longer  known  by  his 
own  name  after  the  son  is  born,  bi\,t  as  the  father  of  Abdallah,  or 
Ibrahim,  or  whatever  name  the  child  receives. 

The  teraphim  of  Laban,  carried  off  by  Each  el,  open  a  curious  chap- 
ter in  the  history  of  old  Jewish  religion.  They  were  images,  small 
enough  to  be  stored  in  the  large  saddle-bags,  or  panniers,  of  Eachel's 
camel,  and  thus  evidently  much  below  the  human  size,  and  were 
regarded  by  Laban  as  his  gods,  the  possession  of  which  was  of  vital 
importance.  Eachel,  no  doubt,  shared  in  his  opinion  of  their  super- 
natural power,  and  had  taken  them,  we  may  well  suppose,  that  they 
might  transfer  to  her  husband  some  of  the  advantages  of  which  he 
had  been  unjustly  defrauded  by  her  father.  By  Josephus  they  are 
called  household  gods,^  which  it  was  usual  for  Ihe  owner  to  carry  with 
him  for  good  fortune,  if  he  went  to  a  distance  from  home.  How 
Laban  made  use  of  them  is  not  told,  though  he  speaks  in  one  place 
of  "divining,'"^  and  probably  did  so  by  consulting  them  as  oracles ; 
just  as  we  find  Joseph,  in  Egypt,  divining  by  a  cup,^  perhaps  by  the 
movements  of  water  in  it  or  of  substances  put  into  the  water;  the 
fondness  for  such  superstition  clinging  to  him  through  his  mother.  If 
we  may  judge  from  later  instances,  Laban's  teraphim  were  decked  with 
an  ephod,  as  a  medium  for  divine  communications — a  broad  orna- 
mented belt  round  the  body,  reaching  from  the  armpits  to  the  lower 
ribs ;  held  in  place  by  a  strap  or  girdle  of  the  same  material,  and  also 
by  cords  from  a  broad  collar  or  cape  of  the  same  stuft"  covering  the 
shoulders,*  It  was  on  the  front  of  such  an  ephod  that  the  Jewish 
high  priest,  in  later  times,  wore  the  oracular  Urim  and  Thummim. 
Tlius  Micah,  in  Mount  Ephraim,  "had  an  house  of  gods,  and  made  an 
ephod  and  teraphim,"  which  Jonathan,  the  apostate  descendant  of 
Moses,  whom  Micah  had  made  his  priest,  carried  off"  to  Dan,  and 
used  there  for  idolatrous  worship.^  The  ephod,  indeed,  is  mentioned 
in  connection  with  teraphim  as  late  as  the  time  of  Hosea,  just  before 
the  overthrow  of  the  Ten  Tribes.^  The  Danites  evidently  believed  in 
the  oracular  power  of  such  a  combination,  since  the  discovery  of  it  in 
Micah's  possession  led  them  at  once  to  the  conclusion  that  they  could 
use  it  to  see  what  they  were  to  do  next,  in  their  adventurous  journey 
on  the  war-path  in  search  of  a  new  home.'^  House-gods,  in  various 
form,  have  always,  indeed,  been  a  great  feature  in  idolatrous  systems. 
Thus  in  the  ruins  of  the  great  palace  of  Khorsabad,  at  Nineveh, 
Botta  discovered  under  the  threshold  of  the  gates  a  number  of  statu- 
ettes in  baked  clay ;  images  of  Bel,  Nergal,  and  Nebo,  placed  there,  as 
an  inscription  telis  us,  "  to  keep  away  the  wicked,  and  all  enemies,  by 

IJos.  ^?i<.,  xvlil.  9, 5.     2  Gen.  XXX.  27  (Heb.).    3Gen.  xllv.  6.     4  Riehm,  p.  387.    5  Judg.xvii.6: 
xvlli.  18-20.    6  Hos.  ill.  4.    7  Judg.  xvlil.  4, 6. 


f 


iMnifiriiWirrniiitng 


278 


THE   HOLY  LAND  ANt)  THE  BIBLE. 


[Chap. 


the  terror  of  death."  ^  Different  parts  of  a  house  were  placed  under 
th^i  protection  of  separate  divinities;  and  a  magic  formula,  which  has 
bef;n  discovered,  directs  that  u  small  image  of  one  god  ought  to  be 
pi. iced  at  the  court-gate  of  a  house;  of  another,  in  the  ground  near 
the  bed;  of  a  tliird,  inside  the  door;  of  a  fourth,  under  the  threshold 
cf  the  door,  at  each  side.  We  do  not  know  of  the  Hebrews  currying 
their  superstition  so  far  as  this,  but  the  protection  sought  by  means 
of  the  tcraphim  is  closely  allied  to  it,  and  the  Israelites  certainly 
sprang  from  an  idolatrous  stock,  for  Joshua  states  tliat  their  fathers, 
who  dwelt  on  the  other  side  of  the  Euplirates,  served  other  gods  than 
Jehovah.2  Indeed,  this  ancestral  tendency  lingered  among  them  till 
extirpated  by  the  sharp  discipline  of  the  Captivity,  and  even  after 
their  return  they  could  not  wean  themselves  from  dabbling  in  some 
forms  of  the  black  art. 

The  pres(  noe  of  such  images,  and  also  of  magic  charms  and  amulets 
implying  faith  in  "strange  gods,"  seemed,  however,  to  Jacob,  incom- 

Eutiblc  with  his  appearing  as  he  ought  before  Jehovah  at  Bethel,  on 
is  return  to  Western  Palestine,  and  they  were  consequently  buried 
under  "the  terebinth  which  was  by  Sliechem,"  known  apparently  from 
that  time  as  "the  Terebinth  of  the  Diviners." ^  But  though  it  was 
thrust  out  ^rom  his  own  encampment,  the  patriarch  could  not  uproot 
from  his  ruco  the  belief  in  their  power.  We  have  seen  how  Micah 
turned  to  them  during  the  anr  r'ihy  of  the  period  of  the  Judges,  and 
that  his  images  continued  to  be  icverenced  and  consulted  at  Dan  till 
the  Captivity.  They  must,  moreover,  have  been  very  general  even  in 
later  times,  for  we  find  David's  wife,  Michal,  taking  the  household 
teraphim  and  laying  it  on  the  bed,  with  goat's  hair  over  the  brow,  to 
imitate  that  of  her  husband — if,  indeed,  the  hair  of  a  common  fly-net 
be  not  meant*  — thus  enabling  him  to  escape  from  hei  father's  messen- 
gers.^ David's  house  could  hardly  be  exceptional  in  such  a  matter, 
even  apart  from  the  fact  that  he  movf  3  in  the  front  rank  of  "society," 
and  would  find  abundant  imitation  on  this  ground  alone,  for  fashion  is 
sec  by  royalty  or  position  in  all  ages.  Even  so  late  as  tlie  fifth  century 
before  Clirist,  indeed,  we  find  the  Prophet  Zechariah  affirming  that 
"tiie  teraphim  have  spoken  vanity,  and  the  diviners  have  seen  a  lie, 
and  have  told  fiilse  dreams:"^  words  which  conclusively  prove  that 
teraphim  were  in  his  day  consulted  as  oracles.  The  earnest-souled 
Josiah  first  made  a  raid  on  these  images,  and  swept  them  away  for  the 
time,'^  though,  we  llsar,  hardly^  for  a  permanence,  for  we  find  that  they 
were  honored  by  the  BaV'ionians  among  whom  the  Captivity  carried 
Israel;  Ezekiel  describing  Nebuchadnezzar  as  standing  where  the 
roads  partf.d,  on  one  hand  to  Eabbath  of  Ammon,  and  to  Jerusalem  on 
the  other,  consulting  his  teraphim  as  to  which  route  he  should  take.* 

1    ,v  normani;,  Ln  Manie,  p.  45.     2  Josli.  xxiv.  2.     "  Jiulg.  ixt  37  (Heb.).     4  Heizog,  Real,  Eiicyd., 
XV.  551,  2te  Auf.    5 1  Sum.  xix.  13, 14.    6  Zech.  x.  2.    7  2  Kings  xxiil.  24.    8  Ezek.  xxi.  21. 


VVl 


XX.] 


BETHLEHEM   TO  JERUSALEM. 


279 


The  best  account  of  this  interesting  feature  in  old  Jewish  religious 
life  is  that  of  Ewald.^  "An  image  of  this  kind,"  he  says,  "did  not 
consist  of  a  single  piece,  but  of  several  parts,  at  least  wlien  the  owner 
cared  to  have  one  of  the  more  elaborate  and  comj)lete  form.  The  sim- 
ple image,  made  of  stone  or  wood,  was  always  that  of  a  god  in  human 
form,  sometimes  as  large  as  a  man,  but  even  in  early  times  the  bare 
image  seemed  too  i)lain.  It  was,  therefore,  as  a  rule,  plated  with  gold 
or  silver,  partly  or  as  a  whole,  and  hence  the  bitter  words  of  the 
stricter  worshippers  of  Jehovah,  who  abhorred  all  image- worship,  and 
spoke  of  it  contemptuously  as  the  work  of  the  carver  or  the  metal- 
founder,  who^e  arts  united  in  the  production  of  the  idol.  Where  the 
precious  metals  were  plentiful  enough,  however,  the  image  might  be 
formed  entirely  of  them.  To  this  point,  therefore,  a  house  god,  apart 
from  its  particular  form,  was  prepared  exactly  like  every  other  idol; 
something  added  to  it  formed  the  special  characteristic  of  the  primitive 
house-god  of  Israel.  To  understand  this,  it  must  particularly  be 
remembered  that  these  house-gods  were  used,  from  the  earliest  times, 
as  means  for  obtaining  oracles,  or  communications  from  above,  so  tlint 
the  teraphim  were,  in  fact,  strictly  identical  with  the  idols  which  pci*- 
formed  oracles.  To  equip  them  for  this  purpose,  an  ephod  was  put  on 
the  image;  an  elaborate  tippet  round  the  shoulders,  to  which  was  fixed 
a  pouch,  (iontaining  the  pebbles  or  otlier  lots  used  for  determini no- 
oracles,  as  the  Urim  and  Thummim  were  hung  on  the  breast  of  the 
high  priest.  A  kind  of  mask  was  next  set  on  the  head  of  the  idol 
from  which,  ai)parently,  the  priest  seeking  an  oracle  decidod  by  some 
sign  whether  or  not  the  god  would  give  a  response  atthotime.  These 
masks  were  needed  to  complete  the  image,  and  hence  they  got  from 
them  the  name  teraphim,  a  nodding  countenance  or  living  mask.  At 
the  same  time,  we  can  understand  how  the  terapliim  are  described 
now  as  of  human  size  and  form,  and  elsewhere  as  so  small  and  li<>ht 
that  they  could  be  hidden  under  a  camel-saddle;  for  tlie  two  tihicf 
oracular  details — the  ephod  and  the  mask — were  the  main  thino-s 
especially  in  a  house-god,  long  and  tenderly  preserved  and  loved. 
Such,  one  cannot  doubt,  wa'e  the  primitive  house-gods  of  Israel  and  if 
we  consider  the  extraordinary  tenacity  with  which  everythip.n- of  a 
domestic  character  held  its  ground,  w'th  little  change,  in  spite  of  the 
fundamentally  opposed  principles  of  the  religion  of  Jehovah,  it  is  not 
surprising  that  many  sought  protection  and  oracular  communications 
from  these  family  idols,  through  centuries,  fancying,  however,  that  it 
was  Jehovah  Himself  who  spoke  through  them." 

From  the  sad  spot  where  he  buried  his  well-loved  Kachel.  Jacob 
wandered  on  towards  the  south,  with  his  tents  and  his  motherless  babe 
— a  son  of  sorrow  to  her  who  was  gone,  but  the  son  of  his  right  hand^ 

1  £wald,  AUerthumer,  p.  297.   2  Gen.  xxxv.  18. 


!f  Bll 


280 


THE   HOLY  LAND   AND  THE   BIBLE. 


[CHAP. 


to  the  broken-hearted  father — and  encamped  on  the  way  to  Hebron 
near  a  tower  built  for  the  protection  of  shepherds  and  their  flocks  ;i 
folds,  of  dry  stone,  with  prickly  bushes  laid  on  the  top  of  the  walls,  as 
is  the  custom  now,  being,  no  doubt,  connected  with  it.  Hebron  and 
its  neighborhood  seems  to  have  been  the  permanent  home  of  the  patri- 
arch, so  far  as  his  black  tents,  pitched  on  one  of  the  slopes  near,  could 
be  called  home,  till  he  went  down  to  Egypt  on  Joseph's  invitation.^ 
He  and  his  tribe  dift'ered,  however,  in  one  point  from  modern  Arabs — 
they  had  no  horses,  so  far  as  we  know,  though  the  horse  was  so 
abundant  in  Palestine  in  the  time  of  Thothmes  III,,  who  reigned  from 
B.  c.  1610  to  B.  c.  1556,3  that  he  captured  2,041  mares  and  191  fillies 
at  the  battle  of  Megiddo,  which  was  fought  about  250  years  after  the 
death  of  Jacob.  The  Hebrews,  as  "plain  men  living  in  tents"  in  their 
earlier  history,  and  as  simple  hill-men  after  their  successful  invasion 
of  Canaan,  never  adopted  the  horse  till  Solomon  introduced  it  from 
Egypt  to  gratify  his  inordinate  love  of  display  and  self-indulgent 
extravagance.  Hence  they  were  known,  among  the  people  who 
boasted  of  cavalry,  for  their  use  of  the  ass  instead  of  the  nobler  animal. 
There  is,  in  accordance  with  this,  a  painting  on  the  walls  of  a  tomb  at 
Benihassan,  on  the  Nile,  of  the  arrival,  about  the  time  of  Abraham's 
visit  to  Egypt,  of  a  Semitic  family  desiring  leave  to  settle  in  the  Nile 
valley:  their  goods  being  carried  on  asses,  the  only  beast  of  burden 
they  appear  to  have.  It  was  alleged,  indeed,  in  later  ages,  so  identified 
witn  the  ass  did  the  Hebrews  become,  that,  having  been  driven  from 
Egypt  as  lepers,  they  were  guided  to  a  supply  of  water  by  an  ass  in 
their  journey  thence,  and,  in  consequence,  they  worshipped  the  race  of 
their  four-footed  benefactor.  It  was  said,  also,  that  when  Antiochug 
Epiphanes  forced  his  way  into  the  Holy  of  Holies  in  Jerusalem,  he 
found  there  the  stone  likeness  of  a  long-bearded  man,  who  sat  on  an 
ass,  and  whom  he  took  for  Moses.  From  this,  the  rumor  spread  that 
the  Jews  worshipped  an  ass's  head  of  gold  in  their  Holy  of  Holies. 
The  slander,  doubtless,  arose,  at  first,  from  the  worship  of  the  ass  by 
the  Egyptians,  as  the  symbol  of  their  god  Typhon,  who  was  said  to 
have  fled  through  the  wilderness  on  one  of  these  animals.*  It  is  strik- 
ing, however,  to  notice  how  easily  the  story  might  arise,  for  Abra- 
ham's ass  is  mentioned  more  than  once  in  the  Bible ;  Issachar  was 
compared  by  Jacob  to  a  strong  ass;  Achsau  rode  on  an  ass;  the 
princes  and  nobles  rode  on  asses;  the  asses  of  Kish  are  famous;  Moses 
set  his  wife  and  his  sons  on  an  ass  which  the  Eabbis  have  honored 
with  the  most  astounding  fables ;  and  the  sons  of  Jacob  took  asses  for 
the  corn  they  were  to  bring  back  from  Egypt.^ 

That  sucli  comparatively  feeble  creatures  can  stand  a  journey  across 

1  This  Is  the  meaniiiK  of  "the  tower  of  Edar"  (Gen.  xxxv.  21).  2  Gen.  xxxv.  27;  xlvi.  1. 
8  Ebers,  in  Riehn.  4  J.  G.  Muller,  in  Sludien  und  Kritikm,  1843,  pp.  906—912,  930—935.  5  Gen.  xxiL 
3,  5;  xlix.  14;  Ex.  Iv.  20;  Josh.  xv.  18;  Judg.  v.  10;  Zech.  Ix.  9;  Gen.  xllv.  3. 


Ttower  of  David,  Jeruaatom.   (See  page  S88.) 


XX.] 


BETHLEHEM   TO  JERUSALEM. 


281 


the  desert,  is  known  to  every  traveller  in  the  East.  Camels  are 
employed  for  the  most  part,  but  donkeys  are  always  found  as  part  of  a 
caravan ;  and  I  have  seen  large  droves  of  horses  on  the  wajr  to  Egypt 
from  Damascus.  The  fact  is  that  water,  the  want  of  which  is  thought 
to  make  travelling  over  the  desert  wastes  practicable  only  for  camels, 
is  found  in  almost  any  direction,  in  quantities  sufficient  loi-  either 
horses  or  asses.  Camels  can  bear  thirst  for  days  together,  and  other 
animals  can  do  with  far  less  drinking  than  is  supposed.  Only  one 
day's  journey  between  Palestine  and  Cairo  is  quite  waterless,  and  any 
muddy  brackish  supply  found  in  some  desert  hollow  on  the  second  day 
suffices.  Water  for  human  beings  is  sometimes  carried  in  skins,  but 
this  provision  is  not  needed  for  animals. 

The  sky  over  Bethlehem,  the  night  before  leaving  :t,  brought  forci- 
bly to  my  mind  the  promise  given  to  Abraham,^  when  he  was 
"  brought  forth  abroad  "  from  his  tent  and  told  to  look  up  to  the  stars, 
which,  innumerable  as  they  seemed,  his  posterity  was  to  outnumber. 
The  spectacle  of  the  heavens  at  night  is  at  all  times  magnificent  in 
Palestine,  for  the  heavenly  bodies,  instead  of  merely  shining  afar,  like 
gems  inlaid  in  the  firmament,  hang  down  like  resplendent  lamps, 
beyond  which  r>ne  looks  away  into  the  infinite.  That  the  patriarch 
should  have  risen  so  far  above  his  contemporaries  as  to  regard  these 
moving  orbs  as  the  work  of  an  invisible  Creator,  is  assuredly  to  be 
explained  only  on  the  hypothesis  of  a  revelation  granted  to  him,  For, 
even  now,  how  inscrutable  is  the  mystery  of  nature,  after  all  our 
science;  how  complicated  the  theories  of  its  origin  and  continuance; 
how  profound  the  ignorance  implied  in  the  latest  attitude  of  science — 
the  simple  acceptance  of  facts  as  they  stand,  without  an  attempt  to  rise 
to  any  intelligent  first  cause !  That  the  heavenly  bodies  should  be 
worshipped  in  such  a  climate  as  tiiat  of  Syria  or  Mesopotamia  in  ages 
when  science  was  as  yet  unborn,  and  motion,  or  impulse  of  any  kind, 
seemed  to  indicate  life,  was  as  inevitable  as  the  fancies  of  a  child  at 
the  whirl  of  a  leaf  or  the  flow  of  water.  Mankind  were  children  in 
tiie  infancy  of  the  world,  and  their  religions  the  religions  of  children. 
How  wonderful  that  Abraham,  bred  amidst  such  mental  simplicity, 
should  have  risen,  not  oiily  above  his  own  age,  but  above  all  ages 
since,  outside  the  teaching  of  the  Bible!  It  was  intensely  interesting, 
mijreover,  to  look  up,  in  David's  own  village,  on  the  skies  which  he 
had  watched  with  the  eyes  of  a  poet,  and  whose  glory,  as  a  tribute  to 
that  of  Jehovah,  he  had  sunji',  perhaps  on  the  very  hills  lying  asleep  in 
the  moonlight  round  me,  in  the  hallowed  strains — 


"  O  Jehovah,  our  God, 
How  excellent  is  Tliy  name  in  all  the  earth  I 


1  Qen.  XV.  6. 


282 


THE    HOLY   LAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


[Chap. 


Who  hast  set  Thy  glory  upon  the  heavens. 

When  I  consider  the  heavens,  the  work  of  Thy  fingers 

The  moon  and  the  stars,  whicli  Thou  hast  ordained, 

What  is  man,  that  Thou  art  mindful  of  him, 

And  the  son  of  man,  that  Thou  visitest  him?"^ 


A  little  north  of  the  grave  of  Rachel,  part  of  the  soil  is  thickly  cov- 
ered with  stones,  about  the  size  of  peas.  Christ,  says  the  legend,  was 
once  passing  here,  when  a  peasant  was  sowing  peas  on  this  spot,  and, 
being  asked  what  he  sowed,  churlishly  answered,  "Stones."  "For 
this  answer,"  said  Christ,  "  you  will  reap  stones,"  and  from  that  time 
the  ground  was  barren,  and  covered  with  the  pea-like  s'  )nes  we  see. 
Many  pilgrims,  traveller,  and  country  people  were  passi*^  to  Bethle- 
hem, or  going  from  it  to  the  capital,  some  on  horses,  others  on  asses, 
but  most  on  foot.  A  l^and  of  Americans  of  both  sexes,  young  and  old, 
rode  on  together  to  Javid's  city  in  high  spirits;  some  Englishmen 
were  forcing  their  beasts  into  a  gallop  northwards;  a  Greek  woman 
with  a  child  was  moving  slowly  forward  on  an  ass,  the  husband  walk- 
ing at  the  creature's  side  and  quickening  its  tired  pace  by  rough  words. 
Peasant- women  were  returning  from  Jerusalem,  each  with  an  empty 
basket  on  her  head,  stepping  on  bravely  in  their  narrow  blue  dresses, 
without  any  thought  of  hiding  their  natural  shape  by  any  tricks  of 
fashion,  and.  shortening  the  way  with  loud,  cheerful  banter  and  gossip. 
Lines  of  camels,  laden  or  without  burdens,  stalked  with  awkward,  slow 
steps  towards  Hebron.  The  ground  sinks  a  little  after  we  pass  Eachel's 
grave,  then  rises  again  as  we  approach  the  large  building  known  as 
the  Monastery  of  Elias,  which  is  inhabited  by  a  few  Greek  monks  who 
fondly  believe  that  the  prophet  Elijah  rested  here  in  his  flight  from 
Jezebel,^  leaving  his  footprint  in  the  rock  as  a  memorial.  Unfortu- 
nately, it  is  known  that  the  original  building  was  erected  by  a  Bishop 
Elias,  at  an  early  date,  so  that  the  claim  on  behalf  of  the  prophet  is 
more  than  usually  apocryphal.  A  comparatively  fruitful  valley  lies 
below  the  monastery,  running  to  the  east,  but  the  hills  in  every  direc- 
tion are  as  rough  and  bare  as  the  most  barren  parts  of  the  Scotch 
Highlands.  The  view  from  the  monastery  hill,  however,  is  remark- 
ably fine.  To  the  south  stand  the  white  houses  of  Bethleliem  on  their 
height;  on  the  north,  beyond  a  broad  plain,  rise  the  walls  and  build- 
ings of  Jerusalem — the  high,  sloping  top  of  Neby  Samwil  closing  the 
view  on  the  distant  horizon;  on  the  east  the  eye  wanders  over  hills, 
sinking,  wave  after  wave,  towards  the  Dead  Sea,  of  which  part  lies,  in 
deepest  azure,  between  these  and  the  yellow-red  table-land  of  Moab, 
which  seems,  in  the  transparent  air,  only  a  few  miles  distant.  On  the 
west  the  landscape  is  shut  in  by  high  ridges  of  hills.  This  spot,  from 
IPs. tUI.1-4.  2  lKlagsxlx.8. 


I< 
ri 
o 


XX.] 


BETHLEHEM  TO  JERUSALEM. 


288 


which  the  traveller  coming  from  the  south  first  sees  Mount  Mori  ah, 
the  site  of  the  Jewish  Temple,  wakes  tlie  tenderest  recollections  in 
every  heart  that  reverences  the  Father  of  the  Faithful.  Here  Abra- 
ham, on  his  sad  journey  from  Beersheba,  at  God's  command  that  he 
should  offer  his  only  and  well-loved  son  Isaac  on  Moriah,  first  came  in 
sight  of  the  hill.  It  was  on  the  third  day  of  his  torturing  ride  from 
the  south  that,  lifting  up  his  eyes,  he  saw  the  place  afar  oft*.  "  Then 
Abraham  said  to  his  young  men,  Abide  ye  here  with  the  ass;  and  I 
and  the  lad  will  go  yonder  and  worship,  and  come  again  to  you."  ^ 
This  must  have  been  spoken  just  about  where  the  Monastery  of  Elias 
now  stands,  and  yet,  strange  to  say,  the  monks  have  thought  only  of 
fables  respecting  Elijah,  and  have  never  realized  the  peculiar  interest 
of  their  dwelling  in  connection  with  Abraham  and  his  son.  The  land 
round  the  monastery  is  carefully  tilled,  and  fenced  with  stroug  walls 
of  dry  stone,  gathered  with  heavy  labor  from  the  surface  of  the  ground 
to  make  it  fit  for  cultivation.  The  monks  have  also  planted  fine 
olive-groves,  and  show  the  real  benefit  such  a  colony  may  be  in  a 
wild  region,  when  industrious  and  intelligent.  The  building  itself  is 
strong  enough  to  resist  a  Bedouin  attack  should  one  at  any  time  be 
made. 

The  road  sank  very  gently  from  Mar  Elias  towards  the  north,  and 
presented  the  very  unusual  sight,  in  Palestine,  of  gangs  of  men  at  work 
to  make  it  passable  for  carriages.  Levelling,  filling  up,  smoothing, 
were  all  in  progress ;  the  laborers  swarming,  in  turbans,  fezzes,  wide 
"  abbas,"  or  close  cotton  shirts,  and  bare-legged,  in  all  directions.  Such 
a  phenomenon,  in  any  part  of  the  Turkish  Empire,  well  deserves  notice. 
How  long  the  spurt  of  activity  will  last,  who  gave  the  money,  and  who 
will  get  it  finally,  are  all  questions  more  easily  asked  than  answered. 
Still  sinking,  the  road  leads  gradually  to  the  Valley  of  Hinnom, 
through  stony  slopes,  sprinkled,  as  I  passed,  with  the  green  of  rising 
crops;  but  very  different  from  English  land,  for  there  were,  as  it 
seemed,  more  stones  than  grain.  It  was  the  Valley  of  Rephaim,  and 
promised  what  in  Palestine  is  thought  a  rich  harvest,  such  as  it  yielded 
when  Isaiah,  passing  perhaps  along  this  very  track  in  the  summer,  saw 
"  the  harvest-man  gathei'ing  the  corn,  and  reaping  the  ears  with  his 
arm."  2  But  one  might  look  in  vain  f^  .  Cue  wood  of  mulberry-trees 
behind  which  David,  that.ks  in  part  to  the  rustling  of  the  leaves  in  the 
wind,*  was  able  to  steal,  unperceived,  upon  the  Philistines  when 
encamped  in  this  valley.  It  was  here,  also,  that  at  another  time  these 
foes  of  Israel  were  gathered  when  the  tiiree  braves  broke  through  their 
host  and  brought  David  the  water  from  tlie  well  at  the  Gate  of  Beth- 
lehem.* The  wide  plain  it  offers  for  nearly  two  miles  before  one 
reaches  Jerusalem  made  Rephaim,  in  fact,  the  scene  of  many  a  fierce 
onslaught  in  ancient  times  between  the  Hebrews  and  their  invaders. 
1  Oen.  xxii.  4, 6.   2  Isa.  xvil.  6.   8  2  Sam.  v.  22-25.   4  2  Sam.  xxi.  i.  IS— le. 


284 


THE   HOLY   LANI.)   AND  THE  BIBLE. 


[Chap. 


The  road  now  crosses  the  Valley  of  Hinnom,  over  which  the  walls 
of  Jerusalem  look  down,  at  this  i)art,  across  a  pleasant  slope  dotted 
with  olive  and  other  trees.  Tiie  aqueduct  from  Solotnon's  Pools  passes 
to  the  side  of  the  valley  next  the  city,  just  above  the  Lower  Pool  of 
Gihon ;  and  our  path  crossed  close  below  it,  alter  passing  a  row  of  cot- 
tages built  on  the  hill-side  for  his  fellow  Israelites  by  the  late  Sir 
Moses  Montefiore.  To  the  left,  as  we  rose  out  of  the  Valley  of  Rephaim, 
the  long  upward  slope  of  the  hill,  facing  the  west  side  of  t>ie  city, 
was  covered  with  olives;  and  there  was  also  a  windmill.  Passing 
along  the  east  side  of  the  pool  the  road  kept  straight  north,  on  the 
east  side  of  the  valley,  which  was  not  broad ;  a  steady  rise  of  nearly 
200  feet  in  all  bringing  us  at  last  to  the  Joppa  Gate,  past  the  gardens 
of  the  Armenian  monastery  within  the  walls,  and  past  the  mossy  cita- 
del with  its  great  slanting  foundations,  cut  off  from  the  road  by  a  deep 
fosse,  into  which  it  jutted  out  in  grim  strength,  one  of  the  few  relics  of 
the  great  Herod.     My  feet  stood  at  last  within  the  gates  of  Jerusalem  I 


CHAPTER  XXI. 


JERUSALEM. 


The  Joppa  Gate,  by  which  I  entered  the  Holy  City,  stands  near  the 
north-west  angle  of  the  walls,  rising  on  the  south  side  from  a  deep  hol- 
low inside  the  wall,  but  standing  on  ground  level  with  the  road  in  all 
other  directions,  It  is  a  castle-like  building  about  fifty  feet  high,  with 
battlemented  top,  very  unfit  now,  however,  to  bear  guns  of  even  the 
lightest  calibre,  for  the  stones  are  but  slightly  held  together  by  the 
rotten  mortar,  and,  indeed,  have  fallen  down  at  some  spots.  Grass 
grows  where  the  watchman  once  looked  out,  and  time  has  for  centuries 
been  allowed  to  play  what  freaks  it  pleased.  As  in  many  other  gates, 
there  is  a  turn  at  right  angles  befoi'c  you  ^et  through:  a  plan  adopted 
in  olden  days  to  help  the  defence.  The  front  is,  perhaps,  forty  feet 
across  in  all;  the  sides,  about  eighteen  feet  deep;  the  entrance,  from 
the  city  side,  is  through  a  comparatively  narrow  gate,  which  fits 
roughly  into  the  lower  part  of  a  hi«ih  pointed  arch,  filled  in  with 
masonry  above  and  at  the  sides  to  suit  the  rickety  door.  In  the  bow  of 
the  arch,  about  twenty  feet  above  the  ground,  is  an  inscription  in 
Arabic,  and  on  the  door  itself  are  a  very  rude  star  and  crescent,  the 
emblems  of  Turkish  rule.  Outside,  the  Joppa  road  stretches  up  a 
slope,  lined  for  a  short  distance  ou  the  upper  side  by  some  shops  and 


!BAP. 


XXM 


JERUSAtBSM. 


285 


mils 
(ttod 
vsses 
jlof 
'cot- 
eSir 
laiin, 
city, 
,881  ng 
n  tlie 
lejvrly 
irdeus 
J  cita- 
1  deep 
lies  of 
aaleml 


lear  the 
eep  Uol- 
vd  in  all 
gli,  with 
jven  the 
r  by  the 
,    Grass 
senturies 
er  gates, 

adopted 
brty  feet 
Qce,  from 
hich  fits 

in  with 
he  bow  of 
'iption  in 
scent,  the 
hes  up  a 
shops  and 


houses,  including  the  British  Consul's  oflfice  ;  an  open  space  spreading 
out  on  tlio  other  side,  covered  more  or  less  witli  the  feootlis  of  small 
dealers,  donkeys  waiting  for  liire,  and  a  native  oafo,  of  wood,  Injfore 
which  numbers  of  laborers  and  workmen  sit  on  low  stools,  smoking 
water-pipes,  at  all  hours.  Eating  or  drinking  they  do  not  indulge  in  ; 
water-pipes  seeming  to  be  all  that  the  cafe  supplies. 

A  long  wall,  rising  from  the  ditch  and  overgrown  with  leaves  and 
stalks,  runs  along,  inside  the  gate,  on  the  right  hand  of  the  Tower  of 
David.     On  the  left  the  first  sample  of  the  domestic  architecture  of 
Jerusalem  that  one  meets  is  a  wretched  house,  about  twelve  feet  higii 
and  eight  broad,  on  a  line  with  the  left  side  of  the  gate ;  its  front 
showing  only  decaying  plaster,  a  rough  door,  and  a  small  window,  so 
high  that  no  one  can  see  through  it ;  the  tiled  roof  broken  and  moult- 
ing.    One  or  two  other  hovels  and  a  higher  serpentine  wall,  turning 
hither  and  thither  on  its  private  account,  to  shut  in  some  wretchedness 
or  other,  C()m[)lete  the  picture.     Camels  passing  through  the  gate  took 
up  for  the  moment  all  its  available  space  as  they  stalked  on,  looking, 
as  these  creatures  always  do,  straight  before  them,  and  meekly  follow- 
ing a  dark-skinned  Arab  who  strode  on  in  front,  in  white  "kefiyeh" 
and  cotton  shirt,  with  bare  legs;  a  water-bottle  in  one  hand,  a  cord 
from  the  nose  of  the  foremost  camel  in  the  other,  and  a  bundle  on  his 
back.     A  gentleman  in  a  fez  and  stripped  "  abba  "  sat  on  the  ground, 
with  his  back  to  the  gate,  behind  a  modest  display  of  fruit,  chiefly 
oranges,  set  out  on  flat  dishes  and  extemporized  trays  made  from  old 
boxes.     Besides  him  stood  a  brother  Terusalemite,  enjoying  the  shade 
of  the  gate,  and  looking  quite  dignified  in  a  turban  and  flowing  brown- 
and-white  "abba"  as  he  indulged  in  a  quiet  gossip  with  the  fruit  mer- 
chant at  his  feet.     Three  or  four  donkeys,  unemployed  for  the  moment, 
were  smelling  the  low  limestone  wall,  or  biting  each  other ;  a  less  for- 
tunate member  of  their  race  pattered  on  under  a  baggy -breeched  fig- 
ure ;  a  donkey-boy  was  looking  at  a  turbaned  purchaser  who  had  sat 
down  on  nothing,  as  only  Orientals  can,  and  was  resting  on  his  feet, 
his  knees  at  his  mouth,  as  he  cheapened  the  terms  on  which  a  lady, 
sitting  in  the  same  attitude  on  the  other  side  of  some  native  brown 
unglazea  earthenware  dishes  and  jars,  was  willing  to  part  with  these 
treasures;  both  carefully  using  the  scanty  shadow  of  the  wall  during 
their  solemn  and  protracted  negotiations.     Two  grave  turbaned  figures 
stood  behind,  resting  against  the  parapet  in  all  the  delight  of  idleness. 
The  donkeys,  and  some  pedestrians  who  had  buttonholed  each  other 
for  a  chat,  filled  up,  in  a  loose  way,  the  space  between  this  side  of  the 
street  and  the  opposite,  Avhere  another  fruit  merchant  had  extempor- 
ized a  rude  shade  of  old  matting  and  branches,  propped  on  a  few  sticks 
of  all  sizes,  and  dipping  sadly  in  the  middle.     Under  this,  sat  a  man 
on  the  ground,  with  a  water-bottle  at  his  lips,  as  I  passed,  and  open 


286 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  THE  BIttLK. 


tCHAl*. 


palm  baskets  of  fVuit  on  all  sides.  Near  him,  and  connected  with  tlie 
same  establishmenf,  an  old  man  sat  un  the  ground,  with  iiis  legs,  tor  a 
wonder,  straight  out  in  front,  bargaining  with  a  donkey-boy  as  to  liow 
many  oranges  he  could  aftbrd  to  give  for  a  farthing:  a  transaction 
which  two  bearded,  turbaned  citizens,  in  flowing  robes,  were  following 
with  rapt  attention.  Two  camels  went  by,  one  tied  to  tlio  other's 
coarse  wooden  pack-saddle,  both  with  a  large  bag  on  each  side,  and 
surmounted  by  two  human  figures  in  "  kefiyehs,"  with  stout  sticks, 
and  faded  linen,  seated  on  the  humps  of  the  animals,  with  their  legs 
crossed  above  the  neck,  as  the  brutes  swayed  slowly  onwards.  At 
every  step  such  Oriental  phenomena,  human  and  four-footed,  filled  the 
way  more  numerously,  as  my  horse  paced  wearily  on,  past  the  citadel, 
down  the  slope  to  the  hotel  whore  I  was  to  put  up. 

The  population  of  the  city  is  one  of  its  great  attractions;  one  can 
never  weary  of  looking  at  the  endless  variety  of  dress  and  occupation. 
An  open  space  before  the  hotel  was  delig^jtful  for  the  human 
kaleidoscope  it  offered.  Day  by  day  you  could  /ateh  kneeling  camels 
waiting  to  be  hired  or  to  receive  their  loads,  and  waving  lines  of  men 
and  women,  the  one  in  "abbas,"  the  other  in  tie  female  counterpart, 
the  "izar,"  sitting  on  the  stones,  or  on  a  sack,  /^ith  their  knees  on  a 
level  witli  their  chins,  behind  heaps  of  cauliflo\/ers,  lemons,  onions, 
radishes,  oranges,  and  other  fruit  or  vegetables,  hoping  for  customers 
who  seemed  never  to  come.  The  wall  towards  the  Joppa  Gate,  and  in 
front  of  the  citadel,  which  occupied  the  corner  of  the  open  space,  was 
a  f&vorite  haunt  of  lowly  tradesfolk.  A  few  short  poles  resting  on  the 
ground  and  on  the  top  of  the  low  wall  formed  a  frame  over  which  to 
spread  an  old  mat,  laid  on  a  shaky  roof  of  sticks,  nailed  or  tied 
together,  the  horizontal  poles  serving  to  display  all  kinds  of  wares, 
dangling  from  them  ;  a  few  box-tops,  or  mat  baskets,  or  sacks  spread 
on  the  ground,  letting  the  public  into  the  secret  o!"  the  extra  stores 
awaiting  their  coin.  A  tempting  display  of  wire,  a  wooden  mouse- 
trap,  a  sheaf  of  ancient  umbrellas  in  various  stages  of  decay,  but 
about  to  he  resuscitated,  filled  up  some  yards  of  wall.  An  old  man, 
with  his  back  resting  against  the  stones,  and  a  few  rags  below  him 
for  cushion,  a  white  turban  on  his  head,  an  old  brown  striped  "  abba  " 
over  some  unknown  under-garment,  and  a  long  pipe  in  his  hand,  sat 
with  the  gravity  of  a  pasha  at  the  side  of  three  small  baskets  of 
lemons,  raisins,  and  figs:  his  whole  stock-in-trade,  worth  in  all,  per- 
haps, a  shilling.  A  low  rush  stool  at  his  side  was  set  for  any  chance 
purchaser. 

As  I  passed,  a  filthy  camel  swung  slowly  down  the  rough  stones  of 
the  street,  with  a  huge  barrel  balanced  on  each  side.  Jews  were 
numerous  in  wideawakes,  or  in  flat  cloth  cars  with  fur  round  them,  a 
lovelock  banging  at  each  ear ;  their  dress  a  long  black  gown  over  a 


th  tlie 
1,  for  a 
o  how 
motion 
lowing 
otber'8 
le,  and 
stick  8, 
)ir  legs 
Is.     At 
led  the 
citadel, 

■»ne  can 
mation. 
human 
;  camels 
of  men 
iterpart. 
>es  on  a 
onions, 
stomerg 
,  and  in 
ice,  was 
w  on  the 
Jhich  to 
or  tied 
wares, 
3  spread 
a  stores 
mouse- 
ay,  but 
)ld  man, 
ow  him 
"abba" 
land,  sat 
skets  of 
all,  per- 
f  chance 

stones  of 

ws  were 

them,  a 

n  over  a 


XXI.] 


JElursALKM. 


287 


yellow  tunic  fitting  the  body  and  roachin^f  the  feet.  A  breadsoller 
displayed  some  queHtioimbhi  brown  "hoouch"  on  a  board,  laid  on  two 
small  boxes;  himself  scuteil  on  u  bug  on  the  ground;  his  outfit,  a 
large  white  turban,  a  striped  cotton  tunic  extending  to  his  ankles,  and 
a  patched  black  stuff  jacket;  all,  like  himself,  the  worse  for  wear.  A 
bead  and  trinket  seller  had  his  wares  spread  out  on  a  bit  of  brown 
sacking,  alongside  the  wall,  with  a  small  packing-box  before  him — his 
counter  by  day,  and  his  safe  at  night.  Each  morning  fresh  cauli- 
flowers rose  in  banks  and  mounds,  on  the  two  stone  steps  opposite  the 
hotel,  with  a  passage  left  in  the  middle  of  the  street  for  traffic.  A 
venerable  figure  with'  a  great  white  beard,  surmounted  bv  a  white 
turban,  and  set  off  with  a  striped  "abba,"  sat  near  by,  cross-legged,  on 
some  rags,  beside  a  few  fly  blown  figs  of  the  year  before,  not  larger 
than  nuts;  his  scales  beside  him,  as  if  anyone  would  ever  think  of 
investing  in  his  poor  display!  Near  at  hand,  another  cross-legged 
patriarch  presided  over  some  oranges  and  lemons,  in  all  the  dignity  of 
a  white  turban,  a  blue  cotton  coat  reaching  to  his  calves,  and  an  old 
colored  sash  round  his  waist.  Passing  in  front  of  him  was  a  knife- 
grinder,  carrying  his  wheel  on  his  back,  ready  to  set  it  down  when  a 
job  offered,  and  shouting  his  presence,  to  attract  customers.  Water- 
carriers,  in  skull-caps  or  turbans,  bare-armed  and  bare-legged,  moved 
about  with  black  skins  full  of  the  precious  fluid,  which  they  were 
taking  to  houses  to  empty  into  the  domestic  water-jars,  sometimes 
through  a  hole  in  the  wall;  for  it  is  not  always  reckoned  safe  to  allow 
a  man  to  enter  the  kitchen  and  thus  see  the  other  sex  in  the 
household. 

Well-to-do  men  occasionally  brightened  the  general  air  of  poverty ; 
one,  for  example,  in  a  long  blue  cloth  coat  lined  with  fur,  a  white 
turban,  yellow  baggy  breeches,  a  white  vest,  and  a  bright-colored  sash. 
Women  with  bundles  of  fagots  upon  their  heads  for  fuel ;  ridiculous- 
looking  Armenian  females  with  baggy  breeches  instead  of  petticoats; 
Turkish  soldiers  in  shabby  blue  uniform ;  an  occasional  American, 
Englishman,  or  Continental  European  ;  a  woman  with  a  child  astride 
her  shoulders ;  some  Russian  pilgrims,  who  had,  perhaps,  walked  from 
Archangel  to  Constantinople,  with  fine  manly  beards,  fur,  mortar-board- 
like caps,  long  warm  great-coats,  thick  boots,  or  shoes,  their  legs, 
where  they  had  not  boots  over  their  trousers,  tied  up  with  cross- 
straps,  over  warm  wrappings  which  served  for  stockings;  beggars 
with  long  sticks  in  their  hands,  and  the  oddest  mockery  of  cotton 
clothing;  a  peasant  with  his  plough  on  his  shoulder,  taking  it  to  the 
smith  to  mend  or  sharpen;  camels  with  huge  loads  of  olive-cuttings, 
or  fagots,  for  fuel,  the  driver  in  a  "kefiyeh  "  sitting  aloft  over  all,  with 
the  guiding-rope  in  one  hand  and  a  long  pipe  in  the  other — all  this 
was  only  a  sample  of  the  ever-changing  spectacle  of  the  street. 


288 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AKD  THE  BIBLE. 


[CoaP. 


The  citadel,  which  rose  almost  opposite  my  hotel,  is  one  of  tlie  most 
striking  features  of  the  Holy  City.  It  stands  on  Mount  Zion,  in  the 
middle  of  the  western  side,  occupying,  with  its  ditch  and  walls,  about 
150  yards  from  north  to  south,  and  about  125  from  east  to  west; 
another  space,  seventy -five  yards  square,  being  taken  up  on  the  south 
side  by  the  Turkish  barracks.  Beyond  these  the  splendid  garden  of 
the  Armenian  monastery  runs,  for  another  250  yards,  inside  the  wall ; 
the  fortress,  barracks,  and  garden  occupying  a  continuous  stri])  within 
the  wall,  a  little  less  than  500  yards  in  length;  the  west  side,  in  fact, 
of  Mount  Zion.  How  great  a  piece  this'is  of  tho  city  may  be  judged 
by  the  size  of  the  whole  town,  omitting  the  great  Temple  grounds  to 
the  east,  now  those  of  the  Mosque  of  Omar.  From  nortli  to  south,  it 
is  about  1,200  yards  from  the  Damascus  Gate  to  the  Zion  Gate,  and  it  is 
about  700  yards  from  the  Joppa  Gate,  on  the  west,  to  the  Temple 
grounds  on  the  east.  Add  to  this  a  square  of  less  than  400  yards, 
joining  the  north  end  of  the  Temple  space,  and  you  have  the  entire 
city ;  the  area  once  sacred  to  the  Temple,  which  also  is  within  the 
walls,  filling  up  an  extra  300  yards  or  so  of  breadth,  and  a  length  of 
about  500  yards.  The  walk  round  the  walls,  which,  of  course,  enclose 
everything — monasteries,  gardens.  Temple  space,  citadel,  streets,  and 
churches — is  about  two  miles  and  a  half.  But  it  is  about  three  miles 
and  a  half  round  Hyde  Park,  including  Kensington  Gardens.* 

The  western  side  of  the  city  is  slightly  higher  than  the  eastern: 
the  ground  near  the  Joppa  Gate  and  on  Mount  Zion,  to  the  south  of  it, 
lying  about  2,550  feet  above  the  sea,  while  the  Temple  space  is  110 
feet  lower.  There  is  thus  a  slope  to  the  east  in  all  the  streets  running 
thence  from  the  west,  although  the  levels  of  the  ancient  city  have  been 
greatly  modified  by  the  rubbish  of  war  and  peace  during  three  thous- 
and years.  The  Jerusalem  of  Christ's  day  lies  many  feet  beneath  the 
present  surface,  as  the  London  of  Roman  times  is  buried  well-nigh 
twenty  feet  below  the  streets  of  to-day.  The  citadel  stands  at  nearly 
the  highest  point  of  the  town,  and  as  it  was  thus  connected  originally 
with  the  great  palace  and  gardens  which  Herod  n-  eated  for  himself  at 
this  point,  it  is  only  necessary  to  imagine  the  space  now  covered,  by 
the  barracks  and  the  Armenian  garden  as  once  more  occupied  by  a 
magnificent  pile  of  buildings  and  pleasure-grounds,  to  bring  back  the 
aspect  of  this  portion,  at  least,  of  the  Jerusalem  of  our  Lord's  day.  All 
remains  of  Herod's  grand  structure  are  buried,  however,  beneath  more 
than  thirty  feet  of  rubbish,  with  the  exception  of  portions  of  two  of 
the  three  great  towers  which  he  built  on  the  north  side  of  his  grounds. 
"  These  huge  fortresses,'  says  Josephus,  "  were  formed  of  great  blocks 
of  white  stone,  so  exactly  joined  that  each  tower  seemed  a  solid  rock." 

n  of  .Terusalem,  and  the  plan  in  Murmy's  Handbook  of  London, 
Robinsoa  makes  the  circumference  of  Jerusalem  the  same  as  I 


1  Measured  on  Baedeker's  plan  of  .Jerusalem,  and  the  plan  in  Murray's  Handbook  of  London, 


of  course  only  approximately 
do. 


XXI.] 


jEtltSAt£M. 


289 


One  of  them,  named  after  his  best-loved  but  tntirdered  wife,  Mariamne, 
has  entirely  vanished,  but  Phasaelus  and  Hippicus  still  in  part  survive. 
When  they  guarded  the  wall,  thirty  cubits  nigh,  which  entirely  sur- 
rounded Herod's  palace,  with  it?,  decorated  towers  at  intervals  rising 
Still  higher,  they  must  have  been  imposing  in  their  strength,  to  judge 
from  the  noblest  relic  they  offer — the  so-called  Tower  of  David,  which 
seems  to  have  been  part  of  the  Phasaelus  Tower,  or  perhaps  of  Hippi- 
cus, for  authorities  differ  upon  ihe  subject.  It  stands  on  a  great  sub- 
structure rising,  at  a  slope  of  about  45°,  from  the  ditch  below,  with  a 
pathway  along  the  four  sides  at  the  lop.  Above  this,  the  tower  itself, 
for  twenty-nine  feet,  is  one  solid  mass  of  stone,  and  then  follows  the 
superstructure,  formed  of  various  chambers.  The  masonry  of  the  sub- 
structure is  of  large  drafted  blocks,  many  of  them  ten  feet  long,  with  a 
smooth  surface ;  that  of  the  solid  part  of  the  tower  has  been  left  with- 
out smoothing.  Time  has  dealt  hardly  with  the  stone  of  the  super- 
structure, which  is  comparatively  modem,  but  even  that  of  the  solid 
base  and  the  substructure  is  rough  with  lichens  and  a  waving  tangle 
of  all  kinds  of  wall-plants.  Still,  as  one  looks  up  from  the  street,  it 
seems  as  if  the  shock  of  a  battering-ram  could  have  had  little  effect  on 
the  sloping  escarpment,  or  the  solid  mass  over  it.  Nor  would  escalade 
have  been  easy,  if  possible,  when  the  masonry  was  new,  so  smooth 
and  finely  jointed  is  the  whole.  Besides  other  buildings,  there  are  in 
the  citadel  grounds  five  towers,  once  surrounded  by  a  moat,  which  ic 
now  filled  up.  The  outer  side  of  one  of  these,  the  second  of  Herod's 
three,  rises  from  a  deep  fosse  at  the  s'de  of  the  road  below  the  Joppa 
Gate,  as  you  go  down  the  Valley  of  Hinnom,  and  helps  one  to  realize 
still  more  forcibly  the  amazing  strength  of  the  ancient  portions  of  these 
structures. 

Desirous  to  have  a  view  of  Jerusalem  from  a  height,  I  ascended  to 
the  top  of  the  Tower  of  David.  The  entrance  from  the  open  space 
i3efore  it  is  through  a  strong  but  time-eaten  and  neglected  archway, 
surmounted  by  pinnacles,  he  fleurs-de-lis  on  the  top  of  which,  half 
grown  over  by  grass  and  rank  weeds,  show  the  work  of  those  won- 
drous builders,  the  Crusading  princes.  Half  the  central  archway  is 
built  up,  leaving  open  a  pointed  gate,  over  which  a  clumsy  wooden 
ornament  represents  two  crescent  moons.  On  the  right  is  a  recess  in 
the  wall  for  the  sentries ;  on  the  left  a  side  gate ;  the  recess  and  side 
gate,  alike,  arched  and  small.  A  rough  platform  of  three  rows  of 
stone,  ascended  by  steps,  juts  out  before  the  recess,  and  on  this  a  sen- 
tinel stands,  scimitar  or  gun  in  hand — another  standing  at  the  centre 
gate:  strong  men  from  some  distant  part  of  the  empire,  perhaps  from 
Kurdistan,  perhaps  from  Asia  Minor.  Some  town  dogs  lay  below  the 
rude  bank  of  stone  at  the  guard-house  door,  asleep  by  da}^  noisy 
enough  by  night.  A  man  sat  on  a  rush  stool  beside  the  low  wall, 
19 


290 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  THE  BtBLE. 


[Chap. 


jmoking  his  water-pipe;  a  second  lay  on  the  ground;  a  third  had  a 
small,  low,  round  table  before  him,  with  a  few  oranges  for  sale;  pend- 
ing the  arrival  of  a  customer,  he  was  gravely  sucking  the  long  coiled 
tube  of  a  water-pipe,  or  hubble-bubble,  holding  discourse,  in  tho  inter- 
vals of  breath-taking,  with  the  two  gentlemen  on  the  ground  near  him, 
or  with  a  fourth  who  stood,  in  flowing  r"»bes,  slippered  feet,  and  tur- 
ban, propping  himself  against  his  stick,  a  fierce  club-liko  affair.  Of 
course  he  was  bare-legged.  In  Europe,  all  four  would  have  been  tat- 
tered beggars ;  but  they  looked  quite  dignified  in  Eastern  costume.  A 
causeway,  slightly  raised  above  the  rough  cobble  stones  of  the  open 
square,  led  through  the  gateway,  over  the  ditch,  by  a  wooden  bridge 
in  very  poor  condition,  and  originally  of  carpentry  so  primitive  that  it 
might  have  been  antediluvian,  though  really  Turkish  and  modern. 
Stairs  on  the  outside  of  the  great  tower  led  half-way  up  its  height, 
beyond  the  solid  lase,  and  the  rest  was  scaled  by  other  stairs  inside, 
by  no  means  safe,  for  the  Turk  never  repairs  anything.  Bound  the 
top  is  a  par  pet,  through  the  embrasures  of  which  cannon  might  be 
turned  on  the  city,  which  the  position  commands.  But  though  there 
were  some  guns  on  the  cemented  roof,  it  is  a  question  wL  ther  any  of 
them  were  in  a  condition  to  be  used,  for,  like  everything  else,  they 
were  far  gone  in  decay. 

The  view  from  this  point  was  very  striking.  Close  at  hand  to  the 
south,  beyond  the  barracks,  were  the  noble  gardens  of  the  Armenian 
monastery,  not  only  part  of  the  grounds  of  Herod  s  palace  nearly  two 
thousand  years  ago,  but  perhaps  of  those  of  David  and  Solomon's  gar- 
dens, for  these  also  covered  the  western  top  of  Mount  Zion.  One 
could  understand  how  difficult  the  victory  of  Titus  must  have  been, 
with  three  such  castles  to  take,  for,  looking  down  into  th'j  ditch,  it 
seemed  as  if  this  one,  at  least,  must  have  been  impregnable  before  the 
discovery  of  gun-powder.  It  was  easy,  moreover,  to  understand  how 
the  Egyptian  warriors  so  long  withstood,  within  thete  strongholds,  the 
Crusaders  under  Godfrey  of  Bouillon  and  his  companions.  Looking 
over  the  houses  of  the  city,  the  eye  was  bewildered  by  the  multitude 
of  small  domes  rising  from  the  fiat  roofs,  to  protect  the  tops  of  the 
stone  arches  below,  for  the  houses  are  all  built  arch  above  arch,  wood 
being  scarce  and  stone  plentiful.  Of  course,  everything  was  old  and 
weatherbeaten ;  every  wall-top  feathered  with  grass  2nd  weeds ;  the 
walls  unspeakably  rude  in  their  masonry  ;  the  one  or  two  sloping  roofs 
that  showed  themselves,  very  woe-begone ;  everything  indeed  marking 
a  city  far  sunk  in  decay,  and  at  best  only  holding  together  while  it 
could,  with  no  prospect  of  returning  to  vigorous  life.  A  party  of  men 
were  on  a  flat  roof  near,  smoking;  a  poor  little  child,  very  likely  a 
slave,  standing  on  one  side  of  the  low  dome  with  a  tray  find  coffee-cups 
on  th'^  ground  beside  him,  and  a  man  leaning  against  the  other  side  oF 


tCHAP. 

had  a 
pend- 
Ljoiled 
inter- 
rhim, 
id  tur- 
'.    Of 
an  tat- 
le.    A 
e  open 
bridge 
that  it 
lodern. 
height, 
inside, 
ind  the 
ight  be 
h  there 
any  of 
se,  they 

i  to  the 
•menian 
,rly  two 
•n's  gar- 
Q.     One 
ve  been, 
ditch,  it 
jfore  the 
and  how 
olds,  the 
Looking 
mltitude 
ps  of  the 
3h,  wood 
i  old  and 
leds;  the 
(ing  roofs 
marking 
r  while  it 
;y  of  men 
y  likely  a 
oflfee-cups 
ler  side  of 


3CXI.] 


JERUSALEM. 


291 


the  dome,  as  he  played  with  his  water-pipe.  A  slight  puff  of  kitchen- 
smoke  here  and  there  showed  where  the  small  fires  used  for  Oriental 
cookery  were  alight.  Several  parapets  had  triangles  of  open  clay  cylin- 
ders in  them,  f-  v  look-out  holes  and  air,  as  is  common  in  Eastern 
towns.  On  one  roof  some  clothes  were  drying.  A  solitary  palm-tree 
rose  aloft  out  of  a  court.  On  one  house-top  a  flat  awning  of  mats  had 
been  raised  on  poles,  and  under  this  were  a  group  of  idlers.  Windows 
seemed  almost  absent,  for  the  Oriental  has  no  idea  of  ventilation.  He 
never  has  windows  on  tlie  grour..d-iioor,  and  even  those  higher  up  are 
either  miserably  small  openings  m  the  wall,  or  rough  projecting  wood- 
work, which  leaves  only  a  small  place  for  lattices.  IHiere  were,  of 
course,  some  better  houses;  bat,  as  a  whole,  one  might  fancy  himself 
to  be  looking  down  on  an  East  End  district  of  London.  Few  houses 
were  mnre  than  two  stories  high. 

Beyond  the  city,  nature  redet^ns  the  sordid  outlook  over  these  mis- 
erable human  abodes.  The  hilis  rise  on  every  side,  recalling  the  words 
of  the  Psalmist,  who,  from  some  such  eminence  as  that  on  which  I 
stooQ,  had  cried  out,  "  As  the  mountains  are  round  about  Jerusalem, 
so  the  Lord  is  round  about  His  people  from  hencefortli  even  for  ever." ^ 
On  some  such  point  of  vantage,  also,  the  prophet  had  imagined  him- 
self set  as  a  warder,  when  he  saw  with  the  eye  of  the  spirit,  as  if  before 
him,  the  restoration  of  the  city,  after  it  had  been  laid  desolate  by  the 
Chaldffians,  and  cried  aloud  at  the  prophetic  sight  of  the  herald  bring- 
ing the  announcement  that  Jehovah  was  returning  to  Zi  on.  Himself  the 
leader  of  Israel  from  captivity,  "  How  beautiful  upon  the  mountains  are 
U\e  feet  of  Him  that  bringeth  good  tidings,  that  publisheth  peace,  that 
bringeth  good  tidings  of  good,  that  publisheth  salvation ;  that  saith 
unto  Zion,  Thy  God  reigneth!  The  voice  of  thy  watchmen!  they  lift 
up  the  voice,  together  do  they  sing ;  for  they  shall  see  eye  to  eye,  now 
the  Ijord  returneth  to  Zion."^ 

The  four  hills,  north,  east,  and  south,  on  which  the  city  is  built, 
could,  more  or  less,  be  traced  iDeneath  by  deeper  or  slighter  depressions 
of  the  view.  The  hill  on  the  north,  on  which  the  huge  copper  dome 
of  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  rises  between  two  Mahommedan 
minarets,  continues  to  mount  with  a  vory  gradual  ascent  beyond  the 
walls,  presenting  the  only  easy  approach  to  Jerusalem  from  any  side, 
and  hciice  offering  the  point  from  which  hostile  armies  have  always 
assailed  it.  It  was  from  this  plateau  that  Godfrey  de  Bouillon  stormed 
the  city,  and  on  the  height  600  yards  north-west  of  the  Joppa  Gate, 
where  now  rise  the  buildings  of  the  Kussian  Hospice,  the  tents  of  Titus 
once  stood. 

On  the  north  of  the  Temple  grounds,  and  thus  at  the  north-east  cor- 
ner of  the  city,  lies  the  hill  Bezetha,  part  of  the  Mahommedan  quarter 

1  Ps.  cxxv.  2.    2  Isa.  Hi.  7.  8. 


MMHtfittlb 


m 


THE  aoLY  LAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


tdHA^. 


of  Jerusalem,  the  rest  of  wliicli  extends,  on  the  north,  to  the  Damascus 
Gate,  and,  thence,  down  to  the  street  which  runs  east  from  the  Joppa 
Gate.  The  Temple  space  is  thus  guarded  by  Mahommedans  at  its 
different  entrances.  The  corner  between  the  Damascus  Gate  and  the 
Joppa  Gate,  on  the  north-west,  is  assigned  to  the  Roman  Catholics  and 
the  Greeks,  and  the  rest,  from  the  south  side  of  the  street,  running  east 
from  the  Joppa  Gate,  is  divided  between  the  Armenians  and  the  Jews, 
these  latter  having  the  consolation  of  knowing  that  their  district 
borders,  in  part,  the  wall  of  their  deeply-loved  Mount  Moriah.  Directly 
east,  and  slightly  lower,  lay  the  wide  open  area,  of  somewhat  less  than 
thirty-five  acres,  where  once  stood  the  Temple.^  On  the  south-west 
stretched  out  Mount  Zion,  the  highest  and  oldest  part  of  the  city ;  that 
pai'  which  David  wrested  from  the  Jebusites,  and  made  his  capital. 
The  city  wall  at  one  time  enclosed  the  whole  of  the  hill,  but  it  now 
runs,  south-west,  across  it,  leaving  on  the  spot  where,  perhaps,  onco 
stood  the  palace  of  Solomon,  an  open  space,  on  which  are  the  Christian 
cemetery  and  the  Protestant  schools.  Part,  however,  is  still  open 
ground,  where  the  peasant  drives  his  plough  over  the  wreck  of  the 
City  of  David,  fulfilling,  even  to  this  day,  the  words  of  Micah,  that 
Zion  would  be  ploughed  as  a  field.^  But  the  most  extensive  view  was 
to  the  south-east,  where  the  deep  blue  of  the  Dead  Sea,  the  pinkish- 
yellow  hills  of  Moab,  and  the  sea  of  hills  in  the  wilderness  of  Judaea 
and  beyond  it,  lay  within  the  horizon.  Most  noticeable  of  all,  just  out- 
side Jerusalem,  sloping  upwards  to  the  east,  the  noble  form  of  the 
Mount  of  Olives  rose  more  than  200  feet  above  the  Temple  enclosure* 
— that  is,  above  the  summit  of  the  ancient  hill  of  Moriah. 

The  back  windows  of  the  hotel  looked  down  into  a  great  pool  144 
feet  broad,  and  240  feet  long,  but  not  deep ;  the  bottom,  of  rock, 
covered  with  cement.  It  was  well  filled  with  water,  which  comes, 
during  the  rainy  season  only,  by  the  surface  drain,  or  gutter,  leading 
from  the  "Upper  Pool"  in  the  Mahommedan  cemetery,  on  the  high 
ground  about  600  yards  west  of  the  Joppa  Gate,  from  which  point  it 
runs  underground.  This  seems  to  be  the  reservoir  which  Hezekiah 
constructed  when  he  "made  a  pool  and  a  conduit,  and  stopped  the 
upper  water-course  of  Gihon,  and  brought  it  straight  down  to  the  west 
side  of  the  city  of  David,*'*  and  "digged  the  hard  rock  with  iron,  and 
made  wells  for  water." ^  Its  south  side  is  separated  only  by  a  line  of 
houses  from  the  street ;  the  Coptic  monastery  is  at  its  northern  end, 
and  at  a  little  distance  to  the  north  west  is  the  Church  of  the  Holy 
Sepulchre,  with  its  high  dome  and  its  unfinished  tower.  The  houses 
bordering  the  pool  are  of  all  heights;  one  with  a  sloping  roof  and  a 
projecting  rickety  balcony,  just  above  the  water;  another,  roofed  in 

1  It  is  an  irregular  parallelogram,  measuring  on  the  west  536  yards;  on  the  east,  512  yards;  on 
the  north,  348  yards;  on  the  south,  309  yards.  2  Micah  iil.  12.  3  The  respective  heights  are  2,440 
feet  and  2,663  feet.   4  2  Kings  xx.  20;  2  Chron.  xxxii.  30.   5  Ecclus.  xlviii.  17. 


And  H( 
ing  niucli 
and  he  a 
uries  for 
•     .     •     . 
also  for 
and  wine 
for  all  mi 
cotes  for 
provided 
sessions  o 
abuiidanc 
liira  suhst 
This   sa 
stopper 
course  of 
it  straigh 
side  of  th< 
Hezekiah 
works. — 2 
37-30. 


And  Hezekiah  had  exceed- 
ing Qiuch  riches  and  honor : 
and  he  made  himself  treas- 
uries for  silver  and  for  gold, 

storehouses 

also  for  the  increase  of  corn 
and  wine  and  oil ;  and  stalls 
for  all  manner  of  beasts,  and 
cotes  for  flocks.  Moreover  he 
provided  him  cities  and  pos- 
sessions of  flocks  and  herds  in 
abundance  :  for  God  had  given 
hira  substance  very  much. 

This  same  Hezekiah  also 
stopped  the  upper  water- 
course of  Gihon,  and  brought 
it  straight  down  to  the  west 
side  of  the  city  of  David.  And 
Hezekiah  prospered  in  all  his 
works. — 2  Chronicles  xxxii. 
3T-30. 

Qp;?EiqAH'S  POOL 


(Sen  pag^e 


XXI.] 


JERUSALEM. 


293 


the  same  way,  but  more  than  a  story  higher,  with  a  square  wooden 
chamber,  supported  by  slanting  beams,  built  out,  partly,  it  would  seem, 
to  let  the  inmates  drop  a  bucket  through  a  hole  in  the  floor,  to  the 
water.  A  frame  of  poles  covered  one  flat  roof,  to  serve  as  support  for 
a  mat  awning  in  the  hot  months,  a  wooden  railing  acting  as  parapet 
on  the  pool  side ;  projecting  windows,  larger  or  smaller,  were  frequent, 
one  with  boxes  of  flowers  outside ;  and,  of  course,  the  roofs  had  their 
usual  proportion  of  men  idling  over  their  pipes.  As  everywhere  else, 
the  walls  round  the  pool  were  thick  with  naturally-sown  wall-plants, 
the  very  emblem  of  a  neglect  which  extended,  perhaps,  over  centuries. 
The  pool  is  capable  of  containing  about  3,000,000  gallons  of  water,  but 
it  is  in  very  bad  repair.  As  to  cleaning  it  out,  nothing  so  revolution- 
ary ever  entered  the  brain  of  a  Jerusalemite.  The  bottom  isdeep  with 
tiie  black  mud  of  decayed  leaves  and  vegetation,  and  one  corner  is  a 
cesspool  of  the  worst  description.  The  water  is  said  to  be  used  only 
for  household  washing,  but  the  poorer  people  frequently  drink  it  in 
aummer,  when  water  is  scarce,  though  it  is  then  in  its  worst  condition, 
having  lain  stagnant,  perhaps  for  months,  since  the  rains. 

A  few  steps  down  David  Street — the  lane  leading  east  and  west  from 
the  Joppa  Gate  to  the  Temple  enclosure — brings  you  to  Christian 
Street,  which  runs  north ;  and  close  to  this,  on  the  under  side,  is  the  Church 
of  the  Holy  Sepulchre.  But  what  would  anyone  think  of  the  street 
called  after  the  hero-king  of  Israel,  if  suddenlj'-  set  down  at  the  end  of  it! 
It  is  a  lane  rather  than  a  street,  with  houses,  for  the  most  part  only  two 
stories  high,  o^ieach  side,  the  lower  one  being  given  up  to  shops,  if  you 
can  call  such  dens  by  so  respectable  a  name.  Over  the  doors  a  continuous 
narrow  verandah  of  wood,  built  at  a  slant  into  the  houses,  gives  shade 
to  the  goods,  but  when  it  was  put  up  or  repaired  in  any  way  is  an  in- 
solvable  historical  problem.  Its  condition,  therefore,  may  be  easily 
fancied.  The  causeway  of  the  street  is  equally  astonisliing,  for  even  a 
donkey,  most  sure-footed  of  animals,  stops,  puts  its  nosf,  to  the  ground, 
and  makes  careful  calculations  as  to  the  safe  disposition  of  its  feet, 
before  it  will  trust  them  to  an  advance.  No  wonder  there  are  no 
people  in  the  streets  after  dark ;  without  a  lantern  they  would  infalli- 
bly sprain  their  ankles,  or  break  a  leg,  each  time  they  were  rasli 
enough  to  venture  out.  But  during  the  day  the  stream  of  many- 
colored  life  flows  through  this  central  artery  of  the  Holy  City  in  a 
variety  to  be  found,  perhaps,  nowhere  ehe.  The  open  space  at  the 
head  of  it,  before  the  Tower  of  David,  is  always  thronged,  as  I  have 
tried  to  describe,  but  every  time  you  look  at  it,  or  look  from  it  down 
the  Street  of  David,  the  scene  is  difterent.  As  soon  as  light  breaks, 
strings  of  camels,  led  and  ridden  by  dark-faced  Bedouins,  begin  to 
swing  through  the  Joppa  Gate  to  this  common  centre — the  largest  open 
space  in  the  city.    Women  from  Bethlehem,  with  dresp^s  set  off  with 


2U4 


Tllli   HOLY    LANJJ   AND  THE   BIBfiE. 


(Chap. 


blue,  red,  or  yellow,  and  unveiled  faces,  though  they  have  veils  over 
their  shoulders ;  Mahoinmedau  women  in  blue  gowns,  which  might  be 
called  by  a  humbler  name  if  they  were  wliite :  their  eyes,  the  only 
part  of  their  faces  to  be  seen,  looking  larger  than  they  are  from  tlie 
black  pigment  with  which  the  edges  of  the  eyelids  are  darkened; 
soldiers  i)i  a  variety  of  strange  uniforms;  trains  of  donkeys  with 
vegetables ;  a  stray  Arab,  in  wild  desert  costume,  with  red  boots,  on  a 
horse  with  a  red  saddle — his  spear,  more  than  twelve  feet  long,  in  his 
hand ;  women  in  white  "  izars,"  which  are  coverings  put  on  over  the 
dress  from  head  to  foot,  puffing  out  like  balloons  as  the  wearer  ad- 
vances ;  a  half-naked  dervish  holding  out  his  tin  pan  for  alms,  which  he 
asks  in  the  name  of  the  AU-me^jiful,  a  company  of  Turkish  soldiers, 
in  poverty  -stricken  uniforms,  but  strong  fellows  all,  following  their 
band,  which  plays  only  short,  unmeaning  flourishes,  in  the  French 
style ;  Bussian  pilgrims :  Jews  of  3very  nationality  ;  residents  from  all 
Occidental  climes; — all  these,  wit.i  many  ot'iers,  pour  on  through  the 
narrow  gullet  of  David  Street,  or  rest  for  k  time  m  the  market  space. 
You  may  even  see  a  family  of  gypsies  encamped  there,  under  their 
low  black  tent;  for,  within  wide  limits,  everyone  does  as  he  likes  in 
the  East. 

Christian  Street  is  specially  the  quarter  of  the  Christian  tailors, 
shoemakers,  and  other  craftsmen.  Passing  about  200  steps  along  it, 
we  come  to  a  very  narrow  street  on  the  right,  running  downhill,  witli 
a  frightful  causeway.  Turning  into  this,  you  presently  come  to  a  few 
steps  on  the  left,  which  your  donkey,  if'ycu  have  one,  makes  no  diffi- 
culty in  descending,  and  are  in  the  open  paved  space  before  the  Church 
of  the  Holy  Sepulchre.  This  is  a  favorite  haunt  of  Bethlehemite 
sellers  of  mementoes  in  mother-of-pearl  and  olive-wood,  which,  with 
other  trifles,  are  exposed  on  the  pavement.  At  festival  times  the 
throng  in  this  spot  is  curious  in  the  extreme.  Men  and  women,  chil- 
dren and  the  very  old,  priests  and  laymen  from  every  country,  repeat 
the  spectacle  and  the  Babel-like  confusion  of  tongues  seen  and  heard 
of  old  in  this  very  city  on  the  diy  of  Pentecost.*  The  only  entrance 
to  the  church  is  on  the  southern  side,  and  it  was  shut  when  I  reached 
it,  but  a  gift  to  the  doorkeeper  having  turned  the  key,  I  entered.  On 
each  side  of  the  quadrangle  are  chapels,  Armenian,  Coptic,  and  Greek, 
the  last  pretending  to  be  the  place  where  Abraham  was  about  to  off'ei- 
up  Isaac.  The  front  of  the  great  church  itself  ip  impressive  from  its 
evident  antiquity.  There  were  originally  two  round-arched  gate-ways, 
but  that  on  the  right  is  built  up,  ar,  is  also  the  upper  part  of  the  other. 
Above  these  gateways  are  two  arches  of  the  same  size  and  style, 
deeply  sunk,  in  whict,  within  receding  masonry,  once  elegantly  carved, 
are  two  round-topped  windows  of  comparativ  bly  small  siae,^  On  a  ledge 
I  Acts  U.  8— U.   2  Abowt  ten  (eet  by  six, 


■'■'■■'          \  ■'         .A'          '     H'  '"^■'        ■     '              -^'A-:: 

%.   ■■■■■'  ■      ■'         ,~i..'\:\^immm.^-  ,"'■'   ■■'"'■■            -\..! 

■  r         .— •   *^ 

v:::t  :;i:  -".•  \! ■..:.:;:  -■  ::  ■ 

:  1 

.....        ■'     ■'       "**.!,,               -•'■,.. 

- 

} 

V^ntranoe  tQ  tbe  Qhurph  of  the  Hol^  Sepulcher.   (See  pa^  S94.) 


XXI.] 


JERUSALEM. 


296 


below  tuem,  where  the  pillars  of  the  arches  begin,  some  tasteful  monlc 
had  put  various  pots  of  flowers,  the  short,  rougli  ladder  bv  wiiich  he 
had  descended  from  the  window-sill  remaining  where  ho  left  .'t.  lie 
had  forgotten  the  poor  blossoms,  however,  anuwant  of  water  had  told 
sadly  on  them.  Over  the  two  window-arches,  which,  with  their  orna- 
mentation, reach  nearly  to  the  top  of  the  church  wall,  is  a  square 
railing,  enclosing  the  dome,  which,  itself,  may  well  be  regarded  as  worth 
looking  at,  since  a  dispute  as  to  its  repair  was  the  ostensible  cause  of 
the  Crimean  War,  and,  tlius,  of  the  death  of  many  thousaiid.s  of  men 
who  never  heard  of  the  church  in  their  lives.  A  window,  as  large  as 
the  others  and  on  the  same  line,  but  without  the  imposing  urcli,  dis- 
figured moreover  by  a  frame  of  thick  iron  cross-bars,  stiuuls  at  the 
right,  outside  the  central  facade;  these  three,  about  forty  feet  above 
the  ground,  being  the  only  windows  in  front  of  the  clmrcli,  so  Car  as  is 
seen*  from  the  forecourt.  Tlie  whole  front  dates  from  the  twelfth 
century,  when  the  Crusaders  remodelled  the  building.  'Die  influence 
of  the  French  art  of  that  day  is  seen  in  the  close  resemblance  of  the 
ornamentation  to  that  of  some  churches  in  Normandy.  Indeed,  a  fine 
carving  over  one  of  the  doors,  representing  Christ's  entry  into  Jerusa- 
lem, was  probably  sent  from  France. 

Just  inside  the  door  a  guard  of  Turkish  soldiers,  kept  there  to  secure 
peace  between  the  rival  Christian  sects,  jars  on  the  feelings,  as  being 
sadly  out  of  place  amid  such  surroundings,  however  necessary.  To 
see  them  lying  or  sitting  on  their  mats,  smoking  or  sipping  coftee,  is 
by  no  means  pleasant,  but  after  all  it  is  better  to  have  quiet  at  even 
this  price  than  such  riots  and  bloodshed  as  have  disgraced  the  church 
at  various  times.  Immediately  before  you  is  a  stone,  said  to  mark  the 
spot  on  which  our  Lord's  body  was  laid  in  preparation  for  burial,  after 
being  anointed.  It  is  a  large  slab  of  limestone,  and  has  at  least  the 
merit  of  having  lain  there  for  seven  or  eight  hundred  years,  as  an 
object  of  veneratica  to  poor  simple  pilgrims.  A  few  steps  to  the 
left  is  the  place  where,  as  they  tell  us,  the  wonr.en  stood  during  the 
anoittting,  and  from  this  you  pass  at  once,  still  keeping  to  the  left, 
into  the  great  round  western  end  of  the  church — the  model  of  all  the 
circular  churches  of  Europe — under  the  famous  dome,  which  rests  on 
eighteen  pillars,  with  windows  round  the  circle  from  which  the  dome 
springs.  In  the  centre  of  this  space,  which  is  sixty  seven  feet  across, 
is  the  Chapel  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  about  twenty-six  feet  long  and 
eighteen  feet  wide,  a  tasteless  structure  of  reddish  limestone,  like 
marble,  decorated  all  along  the  top  with  gilt  nosegays  and  modern 
pictures,  and  its  front  ablaze  with  countless  lamps.  Inside,  it  is  divided 
into  two  parts :  the  one  marking,  as  is  maintained,  the  spot  where  the 
angels  stood  at  the  Resurrection ;  the  other  believed  to  contain  the 
sepulchre  Qf  Christ.    Huge  Liarble  gandlesticks,  with  gigantic  was 


296 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  THE   BIBLK. 


[CHAP 


candles,  lighted  only  on  high-days,  stand  before  the  Clinjxjl  of  the 
Angels,  on  entering  whioh  pilgrims  take  off' tlicir  shoes,  before  treading 


I 


on  ground  so  sacred.  A  hole  on  each  side  of  the  entrance  shows  the 
scene  of  one  of  the  few  mock-miracles  still  played  olf  on  human 
credulity,  for  through  them  the  "  Holy  Fire,"  said  to  be  sent  from 
heaven,  is  given  out,  every  Greek  Easter,  amidst  a  tumult  and  pressure 
of  the  outside  crowd  which  seems  to  threaten  numerous  deaths.  On 
the  evening  before  the  day  of  the  Fire,  every  spot  inside  the  church  is 
densely  packed  with  worshippers,  sleeping  as  they  stand,  in  weary 
expectation  of  the  approaching  event,  or  if  awake,  crosning  their 
breasts,  sighing  aloua,  and,  if  possible,  prostrating  themselves  on  the 
floor.  The  next  forenoon,  a  Turkish  guard,  in  double  line,  o[>en8  a 
passage  round  the  sepulchre,  broad  enough  for  three  men  to  pass 
through  abreast,  and  outside  this  armed  wall  the  crowd,  pressed  jnto 
the  smallest  possible  space,  extends  from  the  wall  of  the  Rotunda  to 
that  of  the  Sepulchre  Chapel.  How  so  many  human  beings  get  into 
so  small  a  standing-ground  seems,  itself,  miraculous.  Cajitain  Conder's 
description  of  what  follows  is  so  vivid  that  I  follow  it.*  "  The  sun- 
light came  down  from  above,  on  the  north  side,  where  the  Greeks 
were  gathered,  while  on  the  south  all  was  in  shadow,"  though  it  was 
noon.  "The  mellow  grey  of  the  marble  was  lit  up,  and  a  white  centre 
of  light  was  formed  by  the  caps,  shirts,  and  veils  of  the  native  Chris- 
tains.  A  narrow  cross-lane  was  made  at  the  Fire-hole  on  the  north 
side,"  where  "six  herculean  guardians,  in  jerseys,  and  with  handker- 
chiefs round  their  heads,  kept  watch — the  only  figures  plainly 
distinguishable  among  the  masses." 

The  pilgrims,  who  represent  every  country  of  Eastern  Christendom 
— Armenians,  Copts,  Abyssinians,  Russians,  Syrians,  Arabs,  each  race 
by  itself,. in  its  national  dress,  marked  by  its  colors  as  well  as  its  style; 
not  a  few  women  among  them,  some  with  small  babies  in  their  arms, 
wailing  above  the  hubbub  of  multitudinous  tongues  in  many  languages 
— had  been  standing  in  their  places  for  at  least  ten  hours,  yet  they 
showed  no  signs  of  weariness.  Every  face  was  turned  to  the  Fire- 
hole;  the  only  distraction  rising  when  great  pewter  cans  of  water  were 
brought  round  by  the  charity  of  the  priests.  Patient  and  stolid,  the 
Russians  and  Armenians  stood  quietly,  each  pilgrim  holding  aloft  in 
his  hand,  to  keep  them  safe,  a  bunch  of,  perhaps,  a  dozen  candles,  to 
light  at  the  "Fire"  when  it  should  appear.  The  Egyptians  sat  silent 
and  motionless.  The  Greek  Christians,  mostly  Syrians  by  birth,  were 
restless,  on  the  other  hand,  with  hysterical  excitement.  Occasionally, 
one  of  them  would  struggle  up  to  the  shoulders  of  his  neighbors,  and 
be  pushed  over  the  heads  of  the  crowd,  towards  the  front.  Chants 
repeated  by  hundreds  of  voices,  in  perfect  tune,  were  freo^uently  raised 
;  J}(i\i  Work  in  fvikt^ne,  p.  ^TJJ, 


XXI.] 


JEttUSALSlf. 


297 


by  individual  leaders;  among  them — "This  is  the  Tomb  of  our  Lord ; " 
"God  help  the  Sultan;"  "O  Jews,  0  Jews,  your  feast  is  a  feast  of 
apes;"  "The  Christ  is  given  us;  with  his  blood  he  bought  us.  Wo 
celebrate  the  day,  and  the  Jews  bewail;"  "The  seventh  is  the  Fire  and 
our  feast,  and  this  is  tiio  Tomb  of  our  Lord." 

Amidst  all  the  wild  confusion  the  patience  of  the  soldiery  was 
admirable,  though  at  times  there  seemed  danger.  A  lash  from  a  thick 
hippopotamus-hide  whip  carried  by  the  colonel,  however,  instantly 
administered  where  there  seemed  risk  of  disturbance,  restored  peace  as 
by  magic.  About  one  o'clock  the  natives  of  Jerusalem  arrived, 
bursting  in  suddenly,  and  surging  along  the  narrow  lane;  many  of 
them  stripped  to  their  vest  and  drawers.  To  clear  the  line  once  more, 
after  this  irruption  of  a  second  crowd,  was  dilBcult,  but  it  was  at  last 
done,  amidst  loud  shouts  of  "  This  is  the  Tomb  of  our  Lord,"  repeated 
over  and  over  with  wondrous  rapidity.  The  llotuncia  now  contained  in 
its  little  circle  of  sixty-seven  feet  diameter,  from  which  the  space 
occupied  by  the  Chapel  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  must  be  deducted, 
about  2,000  persons;  and  the  whole  church,  perhaps,  10,000;  but  at 
last  the  chant  of  the  priests  was  heard  in  the  Greek  cliurch,  and  the 
procession  had  begun.  First  came  very  shabby  banners;  the  crosses 
above  them,  bent  on  one  side.  The  old  Patriarch  looked  frightened, 
and  shuffled  along,  with  a  dignitary  on  both  sides  carrying  each  a  great 
silver  globe,  with  holes  in  it,  for  the  Fire  which  was  to  be  put  inside. 
Now  rose  a  chorus  of  voices  from  the  men,  and  shrill  cries  from  the 
women ;  then  all  was  still.  Two  priests  stood,  bare-headed,  by  the 
Fire-hole,  protected  by  the  gigantic  guardians  at  their  side. 

Suddenly  a  great  lighted  torch  was  in  their  hands,  passed  from  tho 
Patriarch  within,  and  with  this,  the  two  gigantic  men  turned  to  the 
crowd;  they  and  their  guard  trampling  like  furies  through  it.  In  a 
moment  the  thin  line  of  soldiers  was  lost  in  the  two  great  waves  of 
human  beings,  who  pressed  from  each  side  to  the  torch,  which  blazed 
over  them,  now  high,  now  low,  as  it  slowly  made  its  way  to  the  outside 
of  the  church,  where  a  horseman  sat,  ready  to  rush  off  w'^h  it  to  Beth- 
lehem., In  its  slow  and  troubled  advance,  hundreds  of  hands,  with  can- 
dles, were  thrust  out  towards  it,  but  none  could  be  lighted  in  such  a 
rocking  commotion.  Presently,  however,  other  lighted  torches  were 
passed  out  of  th*^  Fire-hole,  and  from  these  the  pilgrims,  in  eager 
excitement,  more  and  more  widely  succeeded  in  kindling  their  tapers, 
but  woe  to  the  owner  of  the  one  first  lit!  it  was  snatched  from  him,  and 
extinguished  by  a  dozen  others,  thrust  into  it.  Delicate  women  and 
old  men  fought  like  furies;  long  black  turbans  flew  off  uncoiled,  and 
what  became  of  the  babies  who  can  tell?  A  wild  storm  of  excitement 
raged,  as  the  lights  spread  over  the  whole  church,  like  a  sea  of  fire, 
extending  to  the  galleries  and  choir.    A  stalwart  negro,  struggling  and 


298 


THE  HOLY  LAND  aKD  THE  BIBLE. 


tOHAir. 


charging  like  a  mad  bull,  ran  roiiiRl  the  church,  followed  by  writhing 
arms  seeking  to  light  their  tajjers  IVom  his;  then,  as  they  succeeded  in 
doing  so,  some  might  be  seen  bathing  in  the  flame,  and  sii^geing  their 
clothes  in  it,  or  dropping  wax  over  themselves  as  a  memorial,  or  even 
eating  it.  A  gorgeous  procession  closed  the  whole  ceremony;  all  the 
splendor  of  jewelled  crosses,  magnificent  vestments,  and  every  accessory 
of  ecclesiantical  pomp,  contributing  to  its  effect. 

A  religious  phenomenon  so  strange  as  this  yearly  spectacle  is 
nowhere  else  to  be  found.  Dean  Stanley's  account  of  it  supplies  some 
additional  touches,  and  brings  it  not  less  vividly  before  us.  "The 
Chapel  of  the  Sepulchre,"^  he  says,  "rises  from  a  dense  mass  of  pil- 
grims, who  sit  or  stand,  wedged  round  it;  whilst  round  them,  and 
beneath  another  equally  dense  mass,  which  goes  round  the  walls  of  the 
church  itself,  a  lane  is  formed  by  two  lines,  or  rather  two  circles,  of 
Turkish  soldiers,  stationed  to  keep  order About  noon  this  cir- 
cular lane  is  suddenly  broken  through  by  a  tangled  group,  rushing  vio- 
lently round,  till  they  are  caught  by  one  of  the  Turkish  soldiers.  It 
s.jms  to  be  the  belief  of  the  Arab  Greeks  that  unless  they  run  round 
the  sepulchre  a  certain  number  of  times,  the  Fire  will  not  come.  Pos- 
sibly, also,  there  is  some  strange  reminiscence  of  the  funeral  games  and 
races  round  the  tomb  of  an  ancient  chief.  Accordingly,  the  night 
before,  and  from  this  time  forward,  for  two  hours,  a  succession  of  gam- 
bols takes  place,  which  an  Englishman  can  only  compare  to  a  mixture 
of  prisoner's  base,  football,  and  leapfrog,  round  and  round  the  Holy 
Sepulchre.  First,  he  sees  these  tangled  masses  of  twenty,  thirty,  fifty 
men,  starting  in  a  run,  catching  hold  of  each  other,  lifting  one  of  them- 
selves on  their  shoulders,  sometimes  on  their  heads,  and  rushing  on 
with  him  till  he  leaps  off,  and  some  one  else  succeeds;  some  of  them 
dressed  in  sheepskins,  some  almost  naked ;  one  usually  preceding  the 
rest,  as  a  fugleman,  clapping  his  hands,  to  which  they  respond  in  like 
manner,  adding  also  wild  howls,  of  which  the  chief  burden  is,  '  This  is 
the  Tomb  of  Jesus  Christ — God  save  the  Sultan ; '  'Jesus  Christ  has 
redeemed  us.'  What  begins  in  the  lesser  group,  soon  grows  in  magni- 
tude and  extent,  till,  at  last,  the  whole  of  the  circle  between  the  troops 
is  continuously  occupied  by  a  race,  a  whirl,  a  torrent,  of  these  wild  fig- 
ures, wheeling  iound  the  sepulchre.  Gradually  the  frenzy  subsides  or 
is  checked;  the  course  is  cleared,  and  out  of  the  Greek  Church,  on  the 
east  of  the  Eocunda,  a  long  procession  with  embroidered  banners, 
supplying  in  their  ritual  the  w  xnt  of  images,  begins  to  defile  round  the 
sepulchre. 

"From  this  moment  the  excitement,  which  has  before  been  confined 
to  the  runners  and  dancers,  becomes  universal.  Hedged  in  by  the 
soldiers,  the  two  huge  masses  of  pilgrims  still  remain  in  their  places, 

1  Sinai  and  Pakdim,  p.  460.  «• 


itbing 
ded  ill 
r  their 
r  even 
all  the 
;es8ory 

acle  is 
IS  some 
"The 
of  pil- 
iin,  and 
3  of  the 
cles,  of 
his  cir- 
ing  vio- 
ers.    It 
n  round 
5.     Pos- 
oies  and 
e  night 
of  gam- 
mixture 
he  Holy 
ty,  fifty 
them- 
ling  on 
of  them 
ding  the 
in  like 
This  is 
irist  has 
magni- 
e  troops 
wild  fiR- 
jsides  or 
on  the 
banners, 
3und  the 

confined 
by  the 
ir  places, 


XXI.] 


JSRUSALBM. 


209 


all  joining,  however,  in  a  wild  succession  of  yells,  through  which  are 
caught,  from  time  to  time,  strangely,  almost  aft'ectingly  mingled,  the 
chants  of  the  pvocession.  Thrice  the  procession  paces  round;  at  the 
third  time,  the  two  lines  of  Turkish  soldiers  join  and  fall  in  behind. 
One  great  movement  sways  the  multitude  from  side  to  sifie.  The  crisis 
of  tlie  day  is  now  approaching.  The  presence  of  the  Turks  is  believed 
to  prevent  the  descent  of  the  Fire,  and  at  this-point  they  are  driven,  or 
consent  to  be  driven,  out  of  the  church.  In  a  moment,  the  confusion, 
as  of  a  battle  and  a  victory,  pervades  the  church.  In  every  direction 
the  raging  mob  bursts  in  upon  the  troops,  who  pour  out  of  the  church 
at  the  south-east  corner — the  procession  is  broken  through,  the  ban- 
ners stagger  and  waver.  They  stagger,  and  waver,  and  fall,  amidst 
the  flight  of  priests,  bishops,  and  standard-bearers,  hither  and  thither, 
before  the  tremendous  rush.  In  one  small  but  compact  band,  the 
Bishop,  who  represents  the  Patriarch,  is  hurried  to  the  Chapel  of  the 
Sepulchre,  and  the  door  is  closed  behind  him.  The  whole  church  is 
now  one  heaving  sea  of  heads,  resounding  with  an  uproar  which  can 
be  compared  to  nothing  less  than  that  of  the  Guildhall  of  London,  at  a 
nomination  for  the  City.  One  vacant  space  alone  is  left:  a  narrow 
lane  from  the  aperture  on  the  north  side  of  the  chapel,  to  the  wall  of 
the  church.  By  the  aperture  itself  stands  a  priest,  to  catch  the  Fire; 
on  each  side  of  the  lane,  as  far  as  the  eye  can  reach,  hundreds  of  bare 
arms  are  stretched  out  like  the  branches  of  a  leafless  forest — like  the 
branches  of  a  forest  quivering  in  some  violent  tempest. 

"In  earlier  and  bolder  times  the  expectation  of  the  Divine  Presence 
was,  at  this  juncture,  raised  to  a  still  higher  pitch  by  the  appearance 
of  a  dove,  hovering  above  the  cupola  of  the  chapel,  to  indicate  the 
visible  descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  This  has  now  been  discontinued, 
but  the  belief  still  continues.  Silent — awfully  silent — in  the  midst  of 
this  frantic  uproar,  stands  the  Chapel  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre.  At  last 
the  moment  comes.  A  bright  flame,  as  of  burning  wood,  appears 
within  the  hole,  kindled  by  the  Bishop  within — but,  as  every  pilgrim 
believes,  the  light  of  the  descent  of  God  Himself  upon  the  Holy  Tomb. 
Any  distinct  feature  or  incident  is  lost  in  the  universal  whirl  of  excite- 
ment which  envelops  the  church,  as,  slowly,  gradually,  the  fire  spreads 
1  om  hand  to  hand,  from  taper  to  taper,  through  that  vast  multitude — 
till,  at  last,  the  *vhole  edifice,  from  gallery  to  gallery,  and  through  the 

area  below,  is  one  wide  blaze  of  thousands  of  burning  candles 

It  is  now  that  a  mounted  horseman,  stationed  at  the  gates  of  the 
church,  gallops  off  with  a  lighted  taper,  to  communicate  the  Sacred 
Kire  to  the  lamps  of  the  Greek  Church  in  the  convent  at  Bethlehem. 
It  is  now  that  the  grea^  rush,  to  escape  from  the  rolling  smoke  and 
the  suffocating  heat,  and  to  carry  the  lighted  tapers  into  the  streets 
and  houses  ol' Jerusalem,  througli  the  one  entrance  to  the  church,  leads 


wttSS 


300 


tflE  ttOLY  LAND  AlfD  THE  fllBLU. 


tOttAV. 


11! 


at  times  to  the  violent  pressure  which,  in  1834,  cost  the  lives  of  hun- 
dreds. For  a  short  time,  the  pilgrims  run  to  and  fro,  rubbing  their 
faces  and  breasts  against  the  fire,  to  attest  its  supposed  harmlessniifes. 
But  the  wild  enthusiasm  teriirinates  from  the  moment  that  the  fire  is 
communicated.    Such  is  the  Greek  Easter." 

But  we  must  return  to  the  chapel.  In  the  centre,  cased  in  marble, 
stands  what  is  called  a  piece  of  the  stone  rolled  away  by  the  angels; 
and  at  the  western  end,  entered  by  a  low  doorway,  is  the  reputed 
tomb-chamber  of  our  Lord,  a  very  small  spot,  for  it  is  only  six  feet 
wide,  a  few  inches  longer,  and  very  low.  It  seems  to  belie  its  claim 
to  be  a  burial-place  by  the  glittering  marble  with  which  it  is  cased, 
but  it  is  solemnly  beautiful  in  the  soft  light  of  forty-three  gold  and 
silver  lamps,  hung  from  chains  and  shining  through  red,  yellow,  and 
green  glass;  the  colors  marking  the  sects  to  which  the  lamps  belong: 
thirteen  each  for  Franciscans,  Greeks,  and  Armenians,  and  four  for  the 
Copts.  •  The  tomb  itself  is  a  raised  table,  two  feet  high,  three  feet 
wide,  and  over  six  feet  long,  the  top  of  it  serving  as  an  altar,  over 
which  the  darkn3ss  is  only  relieved  by  the  dim  lamps.  Due  east  from 
the  Rotunda  is  the  Greek  nave,  closed,  at  the  far  end,  by  a  magnificent 
screen.  A  short  column  in  the  floor,  which  is  otherwise  unoccupied, 
marks  what  was  anciently  believed  to  be  "the  centre  of  the  world;  " 
for  has  not  Ezekiel  said,  "  This  is  Jerusalem ;  I  have  set  it  in  the 
midst  of  tht  nations  and  countries,  that  are  round  about  her"?*  Gar- 
lands of  lamps,  gilded  thrones  for  the  Bishop  and  Patriarch,  and  the 
lofty  screen,  towering  up  to  the  roof,  carved  with  figures  in  low  relief, 
row  above  row;   the  side  walls  set  off  with  panels,  in  which  dark 

Eictures  are  framed;  huge  marble  candlesticks,  two  of  them  eight  feet 
igh, — all  this,  seen  in  the  rich  light  of  purple  and  other  colored 
lamps,  makes  up  an  effect  which  is  very  imposing. 

At  the  western  extremity  of  the  so-called  sepulchre,  but  attached  to 
it  from  the  outside,  is  a  little  wooden  chapel,  the  only  part  of  the 
church  allotted  to  the  poor  Copts;  and  further  west,  but  parted  from 
the  sepulchre  itself,  is  the  still  poorer  chapel  of  the  still  poorer 
Syrians,  happy  in  their  poverty,  however,  jfrom  its  having  probably 
been  the  means  of  saving  from  marble  and  decoration  the  so-called 
tombs  of  Joseph  and  Nicodemus,  which  lie  in  their  precincts,  and  in 
which  rests  the  chief  evidence  ol  the  genuineness  of  the  whole  site,'^ 
for  it  is  certain  that  they,  at  least,  are  natural  caves  in  the  rock. 

It  would  be  idle  to  dwell  on  the  multitudinous  sacred  places  gath- 
ered by  monkish  ingenuity  under  the  one  roof  of  the  Church  of  the 
Holy  Sepulchre,  and  which  must  weary  the  patience  of  the  pilgrims, 
however  fervent.  Two  spots  only  deserve  special  notice.  On  the 
east  of  the  whole  building,  from  behind  the  Greek  choir,  a  staircase 

1  Ezek.  T.  5.   2  Sinai  and  Pakstine,  p.  460. 


tCttA». 


;  hun- 
;  their 

38nt!&8. 

fire  is 

larble, 
mgels; 
eputed 
ix  feet 
I  claim 
cased, 
)ld  and 
•w,  and 
)elong: 
for  the 
ree  feet 
ir,  over 
st  from 
nificent 
jcupied, 
rorld;" 
t  in  the 
L     Gar- 
and  the 
V  relief, 
ih  dark 
ght  feet 
^colored 

ched  to 
of  the 

ed  from 
poorer 

robably 

o-called 
and  in 
e  site,'^ 

es  gath- 
of  the 
►ilgrims, 
On  the 
staircase 


Uhapel  of  the  Holy  Sepulcher.    (See  page  300.) 


XXI.] 


JERUSALEM. 


801 


of  twenty-nine  steps  leads  down  to  the  Chapel  of  St.  Helena,  the 
mother  of  the  Emperor  Constantine,  who  in  the  year  a.d.  326,  at  the 
age  of  nearly  eighty,  visited  Palestine,  and  caused  churches  to  be 
erected  at  Bethlehem,  where  Christ  was  born,  and  on  the  Mount  of 
Olives,  from  some  part  of  which  He  ascended  to  heaven.  Nothing  is 
said  till  the  century  after  her  death  about  her  discovering  tlie  Holy 
Sepulchre,  or  building  a  church  on  the  spot,  but  legend  and  pious  fraud 
iiad  by  that  time  created  the  story  of  tlie  "  Invention  (or  Finding)  of 
the  Cross."  In  a  simpler  form,  the  chapel  has  been  ascribed  to  Con- 
stantine himself,  who,  it  is  affirmed  by  a  contemporary ,i  caused  the 
earth  under  which  the  enemies  of  Christianity  were  said  to  have  buried 
the  Holy  Sepulchre  to  be  removed,  and  built  a  church  over  it.  Eob- 
inson,  who  gives  a  full  quotation  of  the  authorities  on  the  subject,^ 
thinks  there  is  hardly  any  fact  of  history  better  accredited  than  the 
alleged  discovery  of  wnat  is  called  the  true  cross.  Thus,  Cyril,  Bishop 
of  Jerusalem  from  a.d.  348  onwards,  only  about  twenty  years  after  the 
event,  frequently  speaks  of  his  preaclsing  in  the  church  raised  by  Con- 
stantine to  commemorat'i  it,  and  expressly  mentions  the  finding  of  the 
cross,  under  that  emperor,  and  its  existence  in  his  own  day.  Jerome 
also,  in  A.i>.  386,  relates  that  in  Jerusalem,  Paula,  his  disciple,  not  only 
performed  her  devotions  in  the  Holy  Sepulclire,  but  prostrated  herself 
before  the  cross  in  adoration.  But,  though  a  cross  seems  to  have 
really  existed,  and  is  said  to  have  been  found  underground,  how  easy 
would  deception  have  been  in  such  a  case,  and  how  improbable  that 
fcny  cross  should  have  lain  buried  for  300  years!  The  upright  beam 
of  such  instruments  of  death,  moreover,  was  a  fixture  on  which  fresh 
cross-pieces  were  nailed  for  each  sufferer,  so  that  identification  of  a 
whole  cross  as  that  on  which  Christ  died  seems  beyond  possibility. 
Besides,  the  crucifixion  is  expressly  said  to  have  taken  place  outside 
the  city,^  and  this  the  present  site  never  was.  The  Chapel  of  St. 
Helena,  therefore,  and  the  other  holy  places  connected  with  it,  however 
venerable,  are  in  no  d'jgTee  vouchers  for  the  amazing  incidents  associated 
with  them. 

It  is  very  striking  to  come  upon  a  vaulted  church,  with  high  arches, 
carved  pillars,  glittering  strings  of  lamps,  exquisite  screens,  and  large 
sacred  pillars,  so  far  underground.  But  there  is  still  another  below  it. 
Thirteen  steps  more  lead  to  the  "Chapel  of  the  Finding  of  the  Cross," 
which  is  either  a  cavern  in  the  rock  artificially  enlarged,  or  an  ancient 
cistern,  about  twenty-four  feet  long,  nearly  as  wide,  and  sixteen  feet 
high,  paved  with  stone.  It  contains  ar.  altar,  and  a  large  portrait  of 
the  Empress  Helena,  but  is  so  dark  that  candles  must  be  lighted  to  see 
either.     This  was  the  place,  says  tradition,  where  the  three  crosses  of 


1  Eusebius,  VU.  Oona.,  iii.  25-40. 
Heb.  xiii.  12, 18. 


2  Bib.  Researches,  ii.  12—16.    3  John  xlx.  17,  20 ;  Mark  xv.  20 ; 


802 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


[Gha». 


Calvary  were  found ;  the  one  on  wliica  our  Saviour  died  being  discov- 
ered by  taking  the  three  to  the  bedHide  of  a  noblo  lady  afflicted  with 
incurable  illness,  which  resisted  the  touch  of  two,  Itut  left  her  at  once 
when  the  third  was  brought  near. 

Remounting  the  steps,  you  are  led  by  a  stair  from  the  Greek  choir 
to  what  is  saiJ  to  be  Golgotha,  or  Mount  Calvary,  now  consecrated  by 
three  chapels  of  different  sects,  the  floor  being  Iburteen  and  a  half  feet 
above  tliat  of  the  church  below.  An  opening,  faced  with  silver,  shows 
the  8|  ot  where  the  cross  is  said  to  have  been  sunk  in  the  rock,  and 
less  than  five  feet  from  it  is  a  long  brass  0})cn-work  slide,  t)ver  a  cleft 
in  the  rock  which  is  about  six  inches  deep,  but  is  supposed  by  the  pil- 
grims to  reach  to  the  centre  of  the  earth.  This  is  said  to  mark  the 
I'cnding  of  the  rocks  at  the  Crucifixion.  But  there  is  an  air  of  unre- 
ality over  the  whole  scene,  with  its  gorgeous  decorjttions  of  lamps, 
mosaics,  pictures,  and  gilding;  nor  could  1  I'cel  more  than  tiic  gratifi- 
cation of  my  curiosity  in  the  midst  of  such  a  monstrous  aggregation  of 
wonders.  Faith  evaporates  when  it  finds  so  m*ny  demands  made  upon 
it — when  it  is  assured  that  within  a  few  yards  of  each  other  are  the 
scene  of  Abraham's  sacrifice  of  Isaac,  that  of  the  appearance  of  Christ 
to  Mary  Magdalene;  the  stone  of  anointing;  the  spot  where  the 
woman  stood  at  the  solemn  preparation  for  the  tomb;  the  place  where 
the  angels  stood  at  the  Eesurrection;  the  very  tomb  of  our  Lord;  the 
tombs  of  Joseph  and  Nicodemus;  the  column  to  winch  Christ  was 
bound  when  he  was  scourged;  His  prison;  the  scene  of  the  parting  of 
the  raiment;  of  the  crowning  with  thorns;  of  the  actual  crucifixion; 
of  the  rending  of  the  rocks;  of  the  finding  of  the  true  cross;  of  the 
burial-place  of  Adam,  under  tlie  spot  where  the  cross  afterwards  rose, 
the  tree  in  which  the  goat  offered  instead  of  Isaac  was  caught,  and 
much  else. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 


imii 


JERUSALEM — ( Continued.) 

Close  to  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  are  the  ruins  of  the 
Muristan  or  Hospice  of  the  Knights  of  St.  John — "muristan"  being 
the  Arabic  word  for  a  hospital,  to  which  part  of  the  great  pile  of 
buildings  that  once  covered  the  site  was  devoted.  A  few  paces  lead 
one  to  a  fine  old  gateway,  over  which  is  the  Prussian  eagle,  half  of  the 
site  having  been  given  to  Prussia,  in  1869.    The  whole  space,  once 


[Cba». 


lisoov- 
d  with 
it  once 

c  choir 
ited  by 
(ilf  feet 
,  shows 
uk,  and 

•  a  cleft 
the  pil- 
nrk  the 
)f  unre- 
'  lamps, 
I  gratifl- 
iition  of 
,de  upon 

•  are  the 
)f  Christ 
icre  the 
;e  where 
ml;  the 
irist  was 
irting  of 
cilixion; 

of  the 
rds  rose, 
ight,  and 


ns  of  the 
m"  being 
at  pile  of 
)aces  lead 
lalf  of  the 
3ace,  once 


street  Caf 6  iu  Jer  usalem.    (See  page  80S.) 


XXII.] 


JERUSALEM. 


303 


filled  up  with  courts,  halls,  cliambers,  a  church,  and  a  hospital,  is  ovei 
500  feet  sq'iare,  and  now  lies,  for  the  most  part,  in  desolation.  The 
arch  hv  wliioh  you  enter  is  :emicircular,  and  was  adorned  700  years 
ajTo  with  a  "sries  of  figures  illustrating  the  months — men  nnmir.g, 
sowing,  reaping,  threi:hiug,  and  the  like;  but  the  carvings  are  now 
very  much  mutilated.  Within,  a  large  space  has  been  cleared  of  rub- 
tUh  ana  abomination  by  the  German  Government,  the  ruins  being  left 
to  tell  their  story  witd  silent  eloquence.  Already,  in  A.  D.  1048,  a 
church  had  been  built  in  Jerusalem  by  Italian  merchants,  and  a  hos- 
pital attached  to  it,  close  to  a  chapel  consecrated  to  John,  at  that  time 
ratriarch  of  Alexandria.  From  him,  the  monks,  who  had  undertaken 
to  nurse  and  care  for  •sick  and  poor  pilgrims,  too'  il. '  name  of 
Johnites,  or  Brethren  of  the  Hospital.  .Raised  to  the  c*.igr.  of  a  sep- 
arate Order  in  a.d.  1113,  they  received  great  possessi  ^n  h  ..<  Godfrey 
de  Bouillon  and  others.  A  little  later  in  the  twelfth  "ic  'Ty  they  were 
further  changed  into  an  Order  of  clerical  monks,  som  jf  whom  were 
set  apart  for  military  service,  others  for  spiritual  service,  as  chaplains, 
and  the  rest  as  Serving  Brothers,  to  jare  for  the  -V,;  and  escort  pil- 
grims to  the  holy  places.  Gradually  extending  itseif,  ihe  Order  gained 
vast  possessions  in  nearly  every  part  of  Christendom,  and  had  a  corres- 
ponding influence,  which  secured  for  it  the  hearty  support  of  the 
rapacy,  and  especial  privileges.  Their  splendid  history  in  Palestine, 
Cyprus,  Rhodes,  and  Malta  lies  outside  my  limits;  but  it  is  pleasant 
to  recall  their  humbler  services  to  successive  generations  of  poor  and 
sick  pilgrims  in  the  once  busy  halls  and  chambers  of  the  Muristan. 
Hundreds  of  these  forlorn  wanderers  could  be  received  into  the  great 
hospital  and  hospice  at  once,  and  who  can  doubt  the  devotion  on  one 
side,  and  the  gratitude  on  the  other,  that  must,  a  thousand  times,  have 
made  these  now  ruined  walls  sacred  ?  He  remembers,  with  whom  no 
good  deed  done  in  His  name,  no  tear  ever  shed  in  lowly  thanksgiving, 
is  ever  overlooked !  A  hundred  and  twenty-four  stone  pillars  once 
supported  the  arched  halls  of  the  palace,  but  now  in  the  very  midst  of 
the  city  thfjro  are  only,  where  the  ruins  have  not  been  cleared,  heaps 
of  rubbish,  patches  of  flowering  field-beans,  straggling  arms  of  the 
prickly  pear,  rising  forbiddingly  aloft,  and  here  and  there  a  fig-tree. 
Outside  the  gate,  there  is  nothing  offensive,  as  there  used  to  be,  but 
simple  stalls,  where  parti-colored  glass  ringu  from  Hebron,  and  other 
trifles,  are  sold.  The  German  Government  hi!,ve  made  the  space  given 
to  them  within,  a  centre  for  the  German  Protestants  of  Jerusalem ; 
erecting  on  it  a  church  for  them,  and  other  buildings. 

The  bazaars  of  the  city,  which  are  probably  much  the  same  as  the 
business  part  of  Jerusalem  was  in  the  days  of  Christ,  stretch  along  the 
east  side  of  the  Muristan,  southwards,  to  David  Street.  They  consist 
of  three  arched  lanes,  lighted  only  by  hol'i  in  the  loo^  and  henoe 


il 


304 


TIIK   HOLY   LAND   AND  THE   BIBLK. 


[CHAP. 


very  dark,  even  at  noon.  Tlie  western  one  is  the  flesli-market,  but 
displays  only  j)art8  of  slieep  and  goats,  for  very  few  oxen  antl  ealves 
are  used  for  i'ood.  \n  the  other  lanes,  tradesmen  of  diiVerent  kinds — 
fruiterers,  oil,  grain,  and  leather  sellers — sit,  cross-legged,  in  dark  holes 
in  the  archetl  sides,  or  in  front  of  these,  waiting  for  business.  Here 
you  see  a  row  of  shoemakers,  yonder  a  range  of  •pipe-stem  borers. 
More  than  one  of  the  tradesmen,  in  the  intervals  of  Ijusiness,  sits  at 
the  mouth  of  his  den  with  the  Koran  open  before  him,  his  left  hand 
holding  j)Mper  on  which  to  write  his  comments,  his  right  holding  the 
pen,  dipped  from  time  to  time  in  the  brass  "inkhorn"  stuck  in  his 
girdle.^  At  a  recess  in  the  side,  on  which  light  falls,  sits  a  bearded 
old  man,  duly  tiirbancd,  with  llowing  robes,  a  broad  sash  round  his 
waist  insido  his  light  "abba,"  his  slippers  on  tl^c  ground  before  him, 
his  feet  bent  up  beneath  him,  his  long  ])ipe  resting  against  the  bench 
at  liis  side,  it  being  iMij)ossible  that  he  should  use  it  for  the  moment, 
as  he  is  b.'sv  wiiting  a  letter  for  a  woman  who  stands  veiled,  behind, 
giving  him  instructions  what  to  say.  He  is  a  ])rofcssional  letter- 
writer:  a  class  of  Avhich  one- may  see  representatives  in  any  Oriental 
city.  Just  as  they  could  be  seen  in  olden  times  in  English  towns,  before 
education  WMS  so  Avidely  si)rcad  as  it  is  now.  The  j)aj/er  is  held  in  the 
left  hand,  ik  '  id  on  a  desk,  and  the  scribe  writes  from  the  right  hand 
to  the  left,  with  a  ])icce  of  reed,  jwinted  like  a  pen,  but  without  a 
split:  the  same  instrument,  apparently,  as  was  used  in  Christ's  day, 
for  in  the  New  Testament  a  pen  is  called  halamos^  a  reed,  and  its  name 
is  still,  in  Arabic,  kalem,  which  has  the  same  meaning.  The  jiens  and 
ink  are  held  in  a  brass  case,  which  is  thrust  into  the  girdle  when  not 
in  use;  the  hollow  shaft  containing  the  pens,  and  a  small  brass  box 
whi(!h  rises  on  one  side  at  the  end,  the  ink,  poured  into  cotton  wadding 
or  on  ])alni  threads,  to  keep  it  from  spilling.  A  few  hints  given  him 
are  enough  :  off  he  goes,  with  all  mamier  of  Oriental  salaams  and 
comj)liments,  setting  forth,  in  the  fashionable,  high-flown  style  natural 
to  the  East,  what  the  poor  girl  wishes  to  say. 

There  are  two  words  in  the  Old  Testament  for  a  pen ;  one  of  these 
occurs  only  twice,  aud  is  translated  differently  each  time.  Aaron  is 
said  to  have  "  fashioned  "  the  golden  calf  with  "a  graving  tool,"  2  but 
the  same  word  is  used  by  Isaiah  for  a  pen — "  Take  thee  a  great  tablet 
and  write  upon  it  with  the  pen  of  a  man."^  This  shows  that  heret,  at 
least,  meant  a  metal  stylus,  or  sharp  pointed  instrument,  with  which 
surfaces  like  that  of  wax,  spread  on  tablets,  or  even  the  surfnce  of 
metal  plates,  might  be  marked  with  written  characters.  The  other 
word,  e/,  occurs  four  times,  and  in  two  of  these  the  implement  is  said 
to  be  of  iron,^  so  that,  so  far  as  the  Old  Testament  indicates,  reed 
pens  had  not  come  into  use  till  its  books  had  all  been  written.  The 
I  £zek.  ix-  2, 3,  IL  2  Ex.  xsxU.  4.  3  Isa.  vlii.  1.  iooh  xlx.  24 ;  Jer.  xtU.  1. 


ron  IS 
but 
tablet 
ret,  at 
/Inch 

t'Pi   of 

other 
s  said 
reed 
The 


stairway  leading  to  Cburcb  of  8t.  John,  Patriarcb  of  Alexandria,    (See  page  80S.) 


XXIL) 


JERUSALBH. 


800 


word  translated  "inkhom"  is  found  only  in  Ezekiel,^  and  owes  its 
English  rendering  to  our  anoestors  having  horns  for  ink,  the  Hebrew 
word  meaning  simply  a  round  vessel  or  cup,  large  or  small,  and,  as  we 
see  in  the  case  of  the  prophet,  worn,  at  least  sometimes,  in  the  girdle. 
It  may,  therefore,  have  been  similar  to  the  "  inkhorns  "  at  present  uni- 
versal in  the  East. 

Writing  was  known  in  Palestine  long  before  the  invasion  of  the 
Hebrews,  as  we  see  in  the  name  of  Kirjath  Sepher — " Book  Town"* 
— but  was  brought  by  them  from  Egypt,  for,  while  there,  the^r  had 
ahoterim  among  them:  the  class  known  in  our  Bible  as  "scribes" 
or  "writers.""  It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  to  read  of  Moses 
"writing  in  the  book,"*  or  that  the  priests  could  write,*  or  that 
the  people  generally  could  do  so,  more  or  less.  Tiiev  were  to  write 
parts  of  the  law  on  their  door-posts  and  gates;*  a  husband,  in  divorc- 
ing his  wife,  was  to  "  write  her  a  bill,  or  book,  of  divorcement,"'  and 
tlia  king  was  to  write  out  the  Book  of  the  Law  *  Letters  were  writ- 
ten by  Jezebel,  in  the  name  of  Ahab,  and  sealed  with  his  seal;  by 
Jehu,  Hezekiah,  Babshakeh,  and  many  others. 

The  seal  is  a  very  important  matter,  as  the  name  of  the  wearer  is 
engraved  on  it,  to  l>e  affixed  by  iiirn  to  all  letters  and  documents.  It 
is,  therefore,  constantly  carriea  on  the  person,  and  when  trusted  to 
another,  virtually  empowers  him  to  act  in  its  owner's  place.  Even 
Judah  had  his  signet,^  which  he  perhaps  wore  as  the  bridegroom  in 
Canticles  wore  his,  on  the  breast,  suspended  by  a  string.*®  The  seal  is 
used  in  the  East  in  ways  peculiar  to  those  regions — to  seal  up  doors, 
gates,  fountains,  and  tombs.  The  entrance  to  the  den  of  lions  was 
sealed  upon  Daniel  with  the  signet  of  the  king  and  of  his  lords;  the 
bride  in  Canticles,  as  we  already  know,  is  compared  for  her  purity  to 
a  fountain  sealed;  and  we  all  remember  how  the  guard  made  the 
sepulchre  of  our  Lord  "  sure,  sealing  the  stone."  **  A  letter  must  be 
sealed,  if  an  insult  be  not  actually  intended,  so  that  when  Sanballat 
sent  his  servant  to  Nehemiah  with  an  open  letter  in  his  hand,  he 
offered  the  great  man  a  deliberate  affront.^^  Ti^e  \j^\^  jjq^  ^g^^^  jp  made 
of  gum,  ^ampblack,  and  water,  and  is  said  never  to  fade.  Small  horns 
are  still  jsea  in  some  parts  of  Egypt  to  hold  it.  In  sealing  a  letter 
or  document,  a  little  ink  is  rubbed  over  the  face  of  the  seal,  a  spot 
damped  on  the  paper,  and  the  seal  pressed  down ;  but  when  doors  or 
the  like  are  spoken  of  aa  sealed,  it  was  done  by  impressiiDg  the  seal 
on  pieces  of  clay*'  or  other  substances.  When  Pharaoh  "  took  off  liis 
ring  from  his  hand  and  put  it  on  Joseph's  hand,""  it  was  the  s?g?i  of 
.his  appointment  to  the  Viziership  of  Egypt,  just  as  a  similar  aci,  a 
Turkey,  now,  installs  a  dignitary  as  Grand  Vizier  of  ttie  empire. 

1  Ezek.  iz.  2, 3, 11.  2  Josh.  xt.  16.  3  Ex.  v.  «.  Trannlated  wrongly  "  officers."  lie  B.  V.,  M 
in  so  many  other  cases,  retains  this  mistranslation.  4  Ex.  zTil.l4;xziT.4.  ftNiim.*  £3.  6Deut. 
Ti.9;xl.a0.  7  Deut.  zxlv.  1, 8.  8  Deut.  xvil.  18.  9  Oen.  xxxviii.  18.  lOCaut.  vllLS  UOanv.lT. 
12tDan.vi.l7;Hatt.zxvli.M.  l2Neh.Ti.5.   18  Job  zxxtU.  14.  14  Oen.  xiii.  43. 

20 


'':Aiiis.!ixma)tUiif:t». .. 


ttummmsasiii 


SBwBBBBS^^S 


306 


THE   HOLY  LAND  AND  THfe  BIBLE. 


[Chap. 


The  display  in  the  stalls  of  Jerusalem,  for  they  hardly  deserve  to  be 
called  by  a  name  so  respectable  as  "  shops,"  varies  of  course  v/ith  the 
season.  In  the  market  before  the  citadel,  cauliflowers,  and  vegetables 
generally,  are  the  main  features  in  March,  but  as  the  year  advances, 
cucumbers,  tomatoes,  grapes,  figs,  prickly  pears,  pomegranates,  from 
the  neighborhood,  and  oranges,  lemons,  and  melons  from  Joppa  and 
the  plain  of  Sliaron,  are  abundant.  Koses  are  so  plentiful  in  the  early 
summer  that  they  are  sold  by  weight  for  conserves  and  attar  of  roses, 
and  every  window  and  table  has  its  bunch  of  them.  In  the  streets 
and  bazaars,  during  the  busy  part  of  the  day,  all  is  confusion  on  the 
horrible  causeway,  and  image-like  stolidity  on  the  part  of  many  of  the 
sellers.  The  butchers,  however,  like  members  of  the  trade  elsewhere, 
shout  out  their  invitations  to  come  and  buy,  and  the  fruit-sellers  in 
their  quarter  rival  or  even  outdo  them  by  very  doubtful  assurances 
that  they  are  parting  with  their  stock  for  nothing!  Women  from 
Bethany  or  Siloam,  in  long  blue  cotton  gowns,  or  rather  sacks,  loosely 
fitting  the  body,  Avithout  any  attemi)t  at  a  waist,  sit  here  and  there  on 
the  side  of  the  street,  at  any  vacant  spot,  selling  eggs,  olives,  cucum- 
bers, tomatoes,  onions,  and  other  rural  produce.  Bright-colored  ker 
chiefs  tied  round  the  head  distinguish  them  from  their  sisters  of  Beth- 
lehem, who  lu.ve  white  veils  over  their  shoulders  and  bright  parti-col- 
ored dresses,  and  are  seen  here  and  there  trying  their  best  to  turn  the 
growth  of  the  garden  or  orchard  into  coin.  Young  lads  wander  about 
offering  for  sale  flat  round  "  scones  "  and  sour  milk.  The  grocer  sits 
in  his  primitive  stall,  behind  baskets  of  raisins,  dates,  sugar,  and  other 
wares,  pipe  in  mouth.  No  such  tumble-down  establishment  could  be 
found  in  the  worst  lane  of  the  slums  of  London.  The  two  half-doors 
— hanging  awrj'^ — which  close  it  ai,  night,  would  disgrace  a  barn ;  the 
lock  is  a  wooden  affair,  of  huge  size  ;  a  rough  beam  set  in  the  wall, 
perhaps  seven  feet  from  the  ground,  supports  the  house  overhead, 
while  some  short  poles  resting  on  it  bear  up  a  narrow  coping  of  slabs, 
old  and  broken,  to  keep  off",  in  some  measure,  the  sun  and  rain.  The 
doors,  when  closed,  do  not  fit  against  this  beam  by  a  good  many  inches; 
and  there  is  the  same  roughness  inside.  Rafters,  coarse,  unpainted, 
twisted,  run  across;  a  few  shelves  cling,  as  they  best  can,  to  the  walls; 
hooks  here  and  th-ere,  or  nails,  bear  up  part  of  the  stock,  but  the  whole 
is  a  picture  of  utter  untidiness  and  poverty  which  would  ruin  the  hum- 
blest shop  in  any  English  village.  A  cobbler's  shop,  yonder,  next  to 
an  old  arch,  is  simj)ly  the  remains  of  a  house  long  since  fallen  down, 
except  its  ground  arch,  which  is  too  low  for  a  tall  man  to  stand  in  it. 
The  priclcly  pear  is  shooting  out  its  great  deformed  hands  overhead ; 
grass  and  weeds  cover  the  tumbling  wall.  Beams,  never  planed  but 
only  rough-hewn,  no  one  could  tell  how  long  ago,  form  the  door-post, 
sill,  and  lintel,  against  which  a  wooden  gate,  that  looks  as  if  it  were 


Grocer's  Stall  in  Jerusaleiu.   (Soo  page  805.) 


xxn.] 


JEBUSALSIC. 


307 


never  intenced  to  be  moved,  is  dragged  after  dark.  A  low  butcher^s 
block  serves  as  anvil  on  which  to  beat  the  sole-leather ;  over  the  cave- 
mouth  a  narrow  shelf  holds  a  row  of  bright  red  and  yellow  slippers 
with  tumed-up  toes,  and  there  are  two  other  and  shorter  shelves  with 
a  similar  display.  The  master  is  at  work  on  one  side,  and  his  starved 
servant  on  the  other,  close  to  the  entrance,  for  there  is  no  light  except 
from  the  street.  The  slippers  of  the  two  lie  outside,  close  to  them, 
and  a  jar  of  water  rests  near,  from  which  they  can  drink  v^hen  they 
wish.  A  few  old,  short  boards  jut  out  a  foot  or  two  over  the  shelf  of 
slippers  above,  to  give  a  trifle  of  shade.  There  is  no  paint ;  no  one  in 
the  East  thinks  of  such  a  thing;  indeed,  such  dog-holes  as  most  shops 
are  defy  the  house-painter.  Arabs  and  peasants,  on  low  rush  stools, 
sit  in  the  open  air,  before  a  Mahommedan  caf^,  engrossed  in  a  game 
like  chess  or  draughts,  played  on  a  low  chequered  table  ;  the  stock  of 
the  establishment  consisting  of  the  table,  a  small  fire  to  light  the  pipes 
and  prepare  coffee,  some  coffee-cups,  water-pipes,  and  a  venerable  col- 
lection of  red  clay  pipe-heads  with  long  wooden  stems.  Grave  men  sit 
silently  hour  after  hour  before  such  a  house  of  entertainment,  amusing 
themselves  with  an  occasional  whiff  of  the  pipe,  or  a  sip  of  coffee. 
But  all  the  shops  are  not  so  poor  as  the  cobbler's,  though  vretched 
enough  to  Western  eves.  David  Street,  with  its  dreadful  causeway, 
can  boast  of  the  goods  of  Constantinople,  Damascus,  Manchester,  and 
Aleppo,  but  only  in  small  quantities  and  at  fabulous  prices.  Towanls 
the  Jewish  quarter,  most  of  the  tradesmen  are  shoemakers,  tinsmiths,  and 
tailors,  all  of  them  working  in  dark  arches  or  cupboards,  very  strange  to 
see.  Only  in  Christian  Street,  and  towards  the  top  of  Davia  Street,  can 
some  watery  reflections  of  Western  ideas  as  to  shopkeeping  be  seen. 

To  walk  through  the  sloping,  roughly-paved,  narrow  streets  of  the 
modern  Jerusalem,  seemed,  in  the  unchanging  East,  to  bring  back 
again  those  of  the  old  Bible  city.  One  could  notice  the  characteristics 
of  rich  and  poor,  old  and  young,  townspeople  and  country  folks,  of 
bjth  sexes,  as  they  streamed  in  many-colored  confusion  through  the 
bazaars  and  the  lane-like  streets.  The  well-to-do  townspeople  delight 
to  wear  as  great  a  variety  of  clothes  as  they  can  afford,  and  as  costly 
as  their  purse  allows.  Besides  their  under-linen  and  several  light 
jackets  and  vests,  they  have  two  robes  reaching  the  ankles,  one  of 
cloth,  the  other  of  cotton  or  silk.  A  costly  girdle  holds  the  inner  long 
robe  together,  and  in  it  merchants  always  stick  the  brass  or  silver  pen 
and  ink  case.^  A  great  signet  ring  is  indispensable,  as  it  was  alreadv 
in  the  days  of  Judah.^  Many  also  carry  a  bunch  of  flowers,  with  which 
to  occupy  their  idle  fingers  when  they  sit  down  or  loiter  about.  The 
head  ia  covered  with  a  red  or  white  cap,  round  which  a  long  cotton 
cloth  is  wound,  forming  the  whole  into  a  turb»n. 

1  Bzek.  iz.  2.    2  See  an<e,  p.  490. 


808 


THE   HOLY  LAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


[CHAf. 


The  peasant  is  clad  mucli  more  simply.  Over  his  shirt  he  draws 
only  an  "  abba  "  of  camels'  or  goats'-hair  cloth,  with  sleeves  or  with- 
out, striped  white  and  brown,  or  white  and  black.  It  was,  one  may 
think,  just  such  a  coat  which  Christ  referred  to  when  Eo  toM  the 
Apostles  not  to  cany  a  second.^  Many  peasants  have  not  even  an 
abba,  but  content  themselves  with  the  blue  shirt,  reaching  their  calves, 
and  this  they  gird  round  them  with  a  leather  strap,  or  a  sash,  as  the 
fishermen  did  in  the  time  of  St.  Peter.^  If  he  has  any  money,  the  peas- 
ant carries  it  in  the  lining  of  his  girdle;  and  hence  the  command  to 
tlie  Apostles,  who  wen;  to  go  forth  penniless,  that  they  were  to  take 
no  money  in  their  girdles?  Elijah  and  John  tiie  Ba]>tist  wore 
leathern  gii-dle.'i;  Jercmiali  had  ou«  of  linen.*  It  is  thus  still  witli  the 
country  people,  but  the  townsfolk  indulge  themselves  in  costl3'  saahes. 
The  water-carrici's,  who  bond  under  their  huge  goat-skin  bags  of  the 
precious  fluid,  selling  it  to  any  customers  in  the  streets  whom  they 
may  attract  by  their  cry  or  by  the  ringing  of  a  small  bell,  or  taking  it 
to  houses,  are  the  most  i  loanly  clad  of  any  citizens,  A  shirt,  reaching 
to  the  knees,  is  their  only  garment.  Their  calling,  and  that  of  the 
hewers  of  v/ood,  is  still  the  humblest  in  the  community,  just  as  in  the 
days  when  Moses  addressed  Israel  before  \n^  death,  lor  he  puts  the 
heads  of  the  tribes  at  the  top,  and  the  Ivewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of 
water  at  the  bottom,  of  his  enumeratio«  <^  claSvSes ;  setting  even  the 
foreigne'"  who  might  be  in  their  midst  above  these  latter.''  The  Gib- 
eonites,  whom  Joshua  was  compelled  by  his  ontli  to  spare,  were  thus 
doomed  to  the  hardest  fate,  next  to  death,  that  could  be  ai^v^igned  them, 
when  sentenced  to  perpetual  slavery,  with  tlio  sjxM'/ial  task  of  hewing 
wood  and  drawing  water  for  tlie  community.^  Jt  is  in  allusion  to 
water  being  boi-ne  about  in  skins  like  those  o-f  to-day  tiiat  the  Psalmist 
in  his  affliction  prays  God  to  "))ut  his  tears  >ito  His  bottle,"'^  that 
they  might  not  i   n  away  unmarked. 

Female  dress  is  strangely  like  that  of  the  men,  but  while  the  poor 
peasant-woman  or  girl  has  often  only  a  long  blue  shirt,  without  a  gir- 
dle, her  sisters  of  the  town,  where  they  are  able  to  do  so,  draw  a  great 
veil  over  various  longer  and  shorter  garments,  which  covers  them 
before  and  behind,  from  head  to  foot,  so  tfiat  they  are  entirely  con- 
cealed. It  is  this  v/hich  puff's  out.  balloon-like,  as  I  have  already 
noticed,  when  they  pass  by  ;  but  it  is  iiwt  probable  that  Hebrew  women 
wor:.  i-dch  a  thing,  as  they  seem  to  have  appealed  in  public,  both  before 
and  alVr  nwi  Ti;igo,  with  their  faces  exposed.  JJence,  the  Figyptians 
could  see  M  beauty  of  Sarah,  and  Eliezer  noticed  {hat  of  Rebekah, 
whi^e  I'lli  ff  \v  the  I'ps  of  Ilannal  moving  in  silent  prayer.^  The  vnil, 
in  iKct,  fcetuis  lo  biivp  b(;on   -"A  orn  only  as  an  occasional  ornament,  HH 

1  Ma*..  .<.  )%     0  .lolii.  '\1.7.     3  Murk  vl.  8  (Greek).     4  2  Kings  I.  8;  Matt.  111,4;  Jer.  xill.  1- 
6  Deut.  \<',x..  U-,  U.     (5  Jiah.  Ix.  3,  27.    1  J  s,  Ivi.  8.    8  Gen.  xll.  14;  xxlv.  16;  xxlx.  10;  1  Sam.  1. 12- 


ekah, 


;iil 


(ID 


Kill.  1- 

km.  i.  12- 


' 


Put  thy  shoes  from  off  thy  feet,  for  the  place 
whereon  tliou  Btandest  is  holy  Ki'^uud. — Kv.  iii,5. 

And  I  liave  led  you  forty  years  in  the  wiider- 
iicss  :  your  clotlca  are  not  waxen  old  upon  you, 
and  thy  shoe  is  uot  waxen  old  upon  thy  foot.— 
Deut.  xxix,  6. 

How  beautiful  are  thy  feet  with  shoes,  O 
prince's  daughter  I — Cant.  vii.  1. 

None  shall  be  weary  nor  stumble  among  them; 
none  shall  slumber  nor  sleep:  neither  shall  the 
girdle  of  their  bins  be  loosed,  nor  the  latchet  of 
their  shoes  be  broken. — Isa.  v.  27. 

Thus  saith  the  Lord ;  for  three  transgressions 
of  Israel,  and  for  four,  I  will  not  turn  away  the 
pu  nishment  tliereof ;  because  they  sold  the 
righteous  for  silver,  and  the  poor  for  a  pair  of 
shoes.— ^mo«  ii.  6. 


8H0EMAKE3'8«H0P  IN  JEBUSAIJEM.   (See  page  108.) 


XXII.] 


JERUSALEM. 


309 


when  the  loved  one,  in  Canticles,  is  said  to  have  behind  her  veil  eyes 
like  dove's  eyes,  and  temples  delicate  in  tint  as  the  pomegranate ;  ^  or. 
by  betrothed  maidens  before  their  future  husbands,  as  Rebekah  took 
a  veil  and  covered  herself  before  Isaac  met  her;^  or  when  concealment 
of  the  features  was  specially  desired  for  questionable  ends.^ 

A  natural  and  earnest  wish  of  a  poor  girl  of  Jerusalem  is  to  be  able 
to  hang  a  line  of  coins  along  her  brow  and  down  her  cheeks,  as  is  com- 
mon elsewhere,  for  she  sees  rich  women  round  her  with  a  great  display 
of  such  adornment  on  their  hair,  and  notices  that  even  the  children  of 
the  wealthy  have  numbers  of  small  gold  coins  tied  to  the  numerous 
plaits  which  h^ng  down  their  shoulders ;  indeed,  some  children  have 
them  tied  round  their  ankles  also.  The  double  veil,  falling  both  before 
and  behind,  is  not  so  frequent  as  in  Egypt,  but  it  would  appear  to  have 
been  more  common  among  Jewish  women  anciently,  at  least  in  wor- 
ship, if  we  may  judge  from  the  command  of  St.  Paul  that  the  women 
should  never  appear  in  the  congregation  at  Corinth  without  having 
their  heads  covered.^  Among  the  poorer  classes  in  Jerusalem,  as  else- 
where in  Palestine,  both  men  and  women  tattoo  themselves.  The 
women  darken  their  ej'elids,  to  brighten  the  eyes  and  make  them  seem 
larger,  and  often  puncture  their  arms  fancifully  <  .<  substitute  for  arm- 
rings.  Among  the  peasant-women  the  chin  anc  cheeks,  also,  are  often 
seen  with  blue  punctured  marks,  and  the  nails  are  very  generally  dyed 
i-ed. 

From  the  bazaars,  the  street  running  almost  directly  north  brought 
me  to  the  Damascus  Gate:  the  entrance  to  the  city  from  Samaria  and 
all  the  northern  country.  The  slope  of  the  ground  here  shows  very 
clearly  the  line  dividing  the  eastern  from  the  western  hill — Moriah 
from  Zion — a  depression  once  known  as  the  Cheese-makers'  Valley, 
still  running  towards  the  ancient  temple  enclosure.  Originally  this 
was  a  deep  gully  opening  into  the  Valley  of  Jehoshaphat  at  its  junc- 
tion with  that  of  the  Sons  of  Hinnom,  on  the  south-east  corner  of  the 
city;  but  it  is  now  well  nigh  filled  up  with  the  rubbish  of  many  cen- 
turies, so  that  it  can  only  be  detected  near  the  Damascus  Gate.  No 
more  thoroughly  Oriental  scene  can  be  imagined  than  that  offered  when, 
standing  at  this  gate,  you  look  at  the  two  streets  which  branch  off*  from 
it,  south-west  and  south-east.  The  houses  are  very  old,  with  a  thick 
growth  of  wall-vepfetution  wherever  it  can  get  a  footing;  no  one  think- 
ing of  repairs,  or  even  of  preventing  decay,  in  whatever  form  it  may 
come.  Flat  roofs  one  cannot  see,  but  only  the  low  domes  covering  the 
tops  of  arches;  the  house  corners,  the  few  pieces  of  sloping  roo^  the 
ledges  jutting  out  here  and  there,  the  awnmgs  of  mats  stretched  on 
epileptic  poles,  ar.d  projecting  over  the  street,  the  woodwork  filling  in 
the  round  of  arches  used  as  caP^s  or  for  business,  and  even  the  time- 

1  Cant. lY.  1, 3;  Tl.  7  (Heb.).   2  Gen.  xxlv.  65.    8  Gen.  xzxviil.  14.   4  1  Cor.  zL 6. 


f      — 


810 


THE  HOLY  LAIfD  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


tCni». 


\l 


1.1 


I 


Ml 
Nil! 


m 


worn  stones  of  tV,  buildings  us  a  whole,  form  a  picture  of  dilapidation 
which  must  '.^c  seen  to  be  rculi/ed. 

A  nondeserij)t  building  of  one  story  faces  yon,  on  the  left  hand;  the 
dome  of  the  urch  which  constitutes  the  structure  rising  through  the 
flat  roof.  Another  house  of  two  stories  joins  it  on  the  right,  the 
ujiper  story  rising  like  a  piece  of  a  tower,  slanting  inwards  on  all  sides, 
with  a  parajTct  on  the  top,  through  which  a  row  of  triangles  of  clay 
pipes  supj)ly  ornament  ami  peep-holes.  One  very  snjall  window  in  the 
tower  is  the  only  opening  for  liglit,  except  two  U^w  arches,  the  semi- 
circles of  which  are  filled  up  with  rough  old  woodwork.  Tlie  cause- 
way is,  of  course,  antediluvian.  Figures,  in  all  kinds  of  strange 
dress,  sit  on  low  rush  stools  in  the  street  along  the  front  of  this  build- 
ing, some  of  them  enjoying  the  delicacies  of  a  street-cook,  whose  bra- 
zier is  alight  to  provide  whatever  in  his  art  any  customer  may  demand. 
Some  sit  cross-legged  on  the  stones;  others  literally  on  nothing,  their 
feet  supporting  them  without  their  body  touching  the  ground  ;  a  feat 
which  no  Occidental  could  possibly  perlbrm  for  more  tiian  a  few  min- 
utes together.  Can\els  stalk  leisurely  towards  the  Gate;  a  man  on  the 
hu;w>>  of  the  foivmost,  with  his  leet  out  towards  its  neck.  Long- 
muzzled  yellow  street-dogs  lie  about,  or  prowl  after  .scraps.  On  the 
right  a  two-leaved  door  which  would  disfigure  a  resi)ectable  barn,  hangs 
open,  askew,  and  reveals  the  treasures  of  sonic  slioj)keeper;  grave  per- 
simagcs  sit  along  the  wall  beside  deei)  baskets  of  fruit;  a  tu'-baned 
figure  passes  w.'K  his  worldly  all,  in  the  shajjc  of  some  sweetmeats  on 
a  tray,  seeking  to  decrease  his  stock  by  jirofilable  sale.  A  wretched 
arch  admits  to  the  street  beyond,  but  into  this  with  its  stream  of  pas- 
sengers, I  did  not  enter.  At  the  head  of  the  street  on  the  left  hand, 
leading  to  the  south-east,  a  gronj)  of  Bedouins  were  enjoying  their 
pipes  in  the  open  air,  and  of  course  there  were  idlers  about;  but  the 
rest  of  the  street  was  almost  deserted.  It  leads  to  the  Austrian  Hos- 
pice, a  W'jll-bnilt  modern  Home  for  Pilgrims,  where,  for  a  gratuity  of 
five  francs  a  di>v,  one  may  forget,  in  the  mid.st  of  Western  comfort,  that 
he  is  in  the  Eiist.  From  this  point  you  enter  a  street  famous  in  later 
monkish  tradition  as  the  Via  Dolorosa^ — the  way  by  which  our  Saviour 
went  from  the  judgment-seat  of  l^ilate  \q  His  crucifixion.  That  no 
reliance  can  be  })laoed  on  this  is,  however,  cU>ar  from  the  self-evident 
fact  that  the  route  taken  must  dt»|HMid  on  the  situation  of  Pilate's  Hall, 
of  which  nothing  is  known,  though  it  seems  natural  that  it  should 
have  been  on  the  high  ground  of  Zion,  tho  site  of  the  palace  of  Herod, 
rather  than  in  the  contined  and  sordid  lanes  6f  the  city.  We  may, 
moreover,  feel  confident  that  the  Jerusalem  of  Christ's  day  perished,  for 
the  most  part,  in  the  siege  of  Titus,  so  that  even  the  lines  of  the  ancient 
streets,  traced  over  the  deep  beds  of  rubbish  left  by  the  Eomans, 
raur.t  be  very  ditt'erent,  in  many  cases,  from  those  of  the  earlier  city. 


Fool  o£  Bethesda.   (See  page  811.) 


x: 


ai 
ill 
T 
oi 

§; 

til 

St 

til 
til 

B 
D 

of 

CO 

to 

W( 

at 

th 
di 
ov 

W] 

be 
ov 
an 
he 
wl 
mi 
36 
wi 
be 
to 
ca 

o\ 

ris 
hu 
eiK 
wl 

1 
but 


XXII.] 


JERUSALBM. 


811 


This,  however,  has  in  no  degree  fettered  monkish  invention,  for  tliere 
are  fourteen  stations  for  prayer  in  the  Via  Dolorosa,  at  whicli  dift'erent 
incidents  iu  the  story  of  the  Gospels  are  said  to  have  taken  place. 
The  street  rises  gently  to  an  arch  apparently  of  the  time  of  Hadrian,  and 
originally  an  arch  of  triumph,  now  said  to  mark  the  spot  where  Pilate, 
pointing  to  the  bruised  and  stricken  Saviour  said,  "Benoldthe  Man!"^ 
There  were  once,  it  would  seem,  two  side  arches,  with  a  larger  one  in 
the  middle,  but  only  the  central  one,  and  that  on  one  side,  are  now 
standing;  the  other,  and  even  part  of  the  centre  span,  being  built  into 
the  Ciiurch  of  the  sisters  of  Zion.  Before  reaching  this  you  pass  the 
place  at  which  Simon  of  Cyrene  is  said  to  have  taken  up  the  cross,  and 
that  where  Christ  fell  under  its  weight.  The  house  where  Lazarus  of 
Bethany  dwelt  after  being  raised  from  the  dead  and  the  mansion  of 
Dives,  are  also  shown. 

Pilate's  Judgment-hall  is  affirmed  to  be  identical  with  the  mansion 
of  the  Pasha  of  Jerusalem,  at  the  Turkish  barracks  on  the  north-west 
corner  of  the  Temple  enclosure.  This  building  is  said  to  be  the  old 
tower  called  Antonia  by  \,he  Romans,  and  used  by  them  to  control  the 
worshippers  at  the  passover  season;  but  the  main  structure  is  compar- 
atively modern,  though  some  old  stones  remain  at  the  gateway,  '^n 
tiiese  rises,  to  a  height  of  about  forty  feet,  a  square  tower  of  slight 
dimensions,  from  which  an  archway  twelve  or  fourteen  feet  high  bends 
over  the  street.  A  mass  of  old  wall  surmounts  this  and  fills  in  what 
was  once  a  second  lofty  arch,  surmounted  by  a  great  window,  only  the 
bottom  of  which  now  remains.  A  huge  growth  of  prickly  pear  leans 
over  the  broken  street-wall  below,  the  side  of  the  tower  is  partly  fallen, 
and  wild  vegetation  flourishes  wherever  it  has  been  able  to  get  a  foot- 
hold. Passing  on  a  short  distance,  we  come  to  a  pool  on  the  right, 
which  claims  to  be  that  of  Bethesda,^  where  Christ  healed  the  blind 
man.  This  huge  basin,  in  great  part  excavated  in  the  living  rock,  is 
860  feet  long,  126  feet  wide,  and  eighty  feet  deep;  but  it  is  so  filled 
with  a  mass  of  rubbish,  rising  thirty-five  feet  above  a  great  part  of  the 
bottom,  that  it  is  difficult  to  realize  the  full  size  or  depth.  1  got  access 
to  the  surface  through  a  hole  in  a  wall,  but  had  to  take  the  greatest 
care  to  avoid  the  pollutions  which  covered  nearly  every  step  of  my 
way  through  weeds  and  bushes  to  the  edge.  Such  a  work  speaks  for 
he  grand  ideas  of  its  originator,  who  is  unknown,  but  was  perhaps 
o\e  of  the  old  Jewish  kings.  The  north  wall  of  the  Temple  enclosure 
rises  high  over  the  pool  to  the  south,  and  deepens  the  impression  of  its 
hugeness.  Steps,  very  irregular,  lead  down  to  the  bottom  at  the  west 
end,  and  the  pressure  of  the  water  is  provided  against  at  the  east  end, 
where  the  hill  rapidly  descends,  by  a  dam  forty-five  feet  thick,  which 

1  John  xixy  5.    2  .Tolin  v.  2.    A  smaller  pool,  once  called  "  Struthion,"  north-west  of  Bethesda, 
t>ut  now  hullt  over,  is  thought  by  some  to  nave  heen  Bethesda. 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


A#^ 


1.0 


1.1 


u  hi 


140 


IL25  nu 


M 

11.6 


P% 


V 


Hiotographic 

Sdenoes 

Corporalion 


23  WKT  MAM  STRUT 

WIISTn,N.Y.  145M 
(716)a73^S03 


812 


THE    UOLV    i.ANl)   AND  THE   BIBLE. 


[CHAP 


serves  also  as  part  of  tlie  city  wall.  Whether  this  was  really  Bethesda, 
has  been  warmly  disputed,  Sir  Charles  Warren  thinking  that  two 
pools,  once  near  the  Church  of  St.  Anne,  close  by,  were  "the  Twin 
Pools"  which  were  believed  in  the  early  Christian  centuries  to  be 
Betliesda,^  while  Captain  Conder  says  that  the  present  pool  is  not 
clearly  mentioned  before  the  tenth  century,  and  may  have  been  built 
by  the  Komans  or  early  Arabs.^  The  wonderful  perfection  of  the 
cement  of  lime  and  broken  pottery  over  the  bottom,  which  needed  to 
be  blasted  before  it  could  be  broken  up,  and  the  immense  care  with 
which  the  stone  under  it  had  been  prei)ared,  certainly  seem  to  point  to 
an  origin  in  the  palmy  days  of  Israel,  when  vast  works  could  be  car- 
ried out  at  leisure. 

About  seventy-five  yards  north  of  this  great  pool  is  a  fine  specimen 
of  Crusading  architectui-e — the  triple-naved  pure  Gothic  Church  of  St. 
Anne,  formerly  used  as  a  mosque,  but  after  many  centuries  given  back 
to  the  Christians,  as  a  gift  of  the  Sultan  to  Napoleon  III.,  at  the  close 
of  the  Crimean  War.  A  huge  cistern  excavated  in  the  rock  below  it 
and  carefully  cemented  is  actually  claimed  to  have  been  the  home  of 
St.  Anne,  the  mother  of  the  Virgin  Mary. 

West  of  the  great  pool,  three  gates  open  into  the  Temple  enclosure, 
now  the  Harem  esli  Sherif,  but  entrance  by  these  is  strictly  prohibited 
to  any  save  Mahommedans.  Indeed,  it  is  only  a  few  years  since  tliat 
unbelievers  were  permitted  to  enter  at  all,  and  many  a  rash  intruder, 
ignorant  of  the  danger,  has  in  former  days  been  killed  for  daring  to 
intrude  on  such  holy  ground.  The  bitter  fanaticism  of  the  past  has, 
however,  yielded  so  far  that  a  fee,  paid  through  one  of  the  consulates, 
enables  strangers  to  enter,  if  duly  attended  by  one  of  the  richly- 
bedizened  "cavasses,"  or  servants  of  such  an  office.  I  was  thus 
enabled,  in  company  with  a  party  of  Americans,  to  go  over  the 
mysterious  space,  which,  indeed,  has  sights  one  cannot  well  forget. 
The  great  Silseleh  Gate,  at  the  foot  of  David  Street  and  thus  almost  in 
the  centre  of  the  western  side  of  the  enclosure,  admits  you  by  two  or 
three  steps  upwards  to  the  sacred  precincts,  which  offer  in  their  wide 
open  space  of  thirty-five  acres,  the  circumference  nearly  equal  to  a 
mile,3  a  delightful  relief,  after  toiling  through  the  narrow  and  filthy 
streets.  Lying  about  2,420  feet  above  the  Mediterranean,  this  spot  is 
comparatively  cool,  even  in  summer.  The  surface  was  once  a  rough 
hill  sloping  or  swelling  irregularly,  but  a  vast  level  platform  has  been 
formed,  originally  under  Solomon,  by  cutting  away  the  rock  in  some 
places,  raising  huge  arched  vaults  at  others,  and  elsewhere  by  filling 
up  the  hollows  with  rubbish  and  stones. 

Near  tl".  north-west  corner  the  natural  rock  appears  on  the  surface, 

1  Rf coven/  of  feri'mlem,  p.  198.    2  Tent  Work  in  Palestine,  p.  185.    3  On  the  map  In  The  Recovery  qf 
Jerusalem,  the  entires  space  is  about  4,800  feek  round,  about  500  feet  less  than  a  mile. 


y 


[CHAP 

ethesda, 
liat  two 
tie  Twin 
58  to  be 
1  is  not 
;en  built 
n  of  the 
ceded  to 
are  with 
point  to 
\  be  car- 
specimen 
•cli  of  St. 
ven  back 
the  close 
below  it 
home  of 

mclosure, 

rohibited 

since  that 

intruder, 

daring  to 

past  hns, 

onsulates, 

le  richly- 

was  thus 

over  the 

ill   forget. 

almost  in 

by  two  or 

heir  wide 

squal  to  a 

and  filthy 

lis  spot  is 

e  a  rough 

has  been 
k  in  some 

by  filling 

le  surface, 

Tie  Becovery  qf 


And  the  ass  saw  the 
angel  of  the  Lord  stand- 
ing in  the  way,  and  his 
sword  drawn  in  his  hand : 
and  the  ass  turned  aside 
the  way.  and  went  into  the  field: 
and  Balaam  smote  the  ass,  to 
turn  her  into  the  way. 

But  the  anq:e1  of  the  Lord  stood 
in  a  path  of  the  vineyards,  a  wall 
lH>ing  on  this  side,  and  a  wall  on 
that  side.    And  when  the  aas  saw  the  angel 
of  the  Lord,  she  thrust  heraelf  unto  the  wall, 
and  crushed  Balaam's    foot    against    the 
wall :   and  he  smote    her  again.  —  Num. 
xxii.  23-35. 

SQVTI?  WALI<  OF  the;  I14HBH  EgH-SIJEHIF. 


(See  page  8U,) 


xxn.] 


JERUSALEM. 


818 


or  is  only  slightly  covered,  but  it  was  originally  much  higher.  The 
whole  hill,  however,  has  been  cut  away  at  this  part,  except  a  mass  at 
the  angle  of  the  wall,  rising  with  a  perpendicular  face,  north  and  south, 
forty  feet  above  the  platform.  On  tnis,  it  seems  certain,  the  Boman 
Fort  Antouia  was  built,  for  Josephus  speaks  of  it  as  standing  at 
this  corner  on  a  rock  fifty  cubits  nigh.*  This  platform  is,  more- 
over, separated  from  the  north-eastern  hill  by  a  deep  trench,  fifty- 
yards  broad,  now  occupied  in  part  by  "the  rool  of  Bethesda,"  and 
this,  also,  agrees  with  what  the  Jewish  historian  says  of  Antonia. 
The  north-east  corner  has  been  "made"  by  filling  up  a  steep  slope 
with  earth  and  stones,  but  the  chief  triumph  of  architecture 
was  seen  on  the  south,  where  the  wall  rose  from  the  valley  to  a 
height  almost  equal  to  that  of  the  tallest  of  our  church-spires,  while 
above  this,  in  the  days  of  Herod's  Temple;  rose  the  royal  porch,  a 
triple  cloister,  higher  and  longer  tlian  YorK  Cathedral,  when  seen  from 
tlie  valley  outside ;  the  whole,  when  fresh,  glittering  with  a  marble- 
like  whiteness.  The  vast  space  thus  obtained  within  was  utilized  in 
many  ways. 

Level  as  is  the  surface  thus  secured  by  almost  incredible  labor,  it 
covers  wonders  unsuspected,  for  the  ground  is  perfectly  honeycombed 
with  cisterns  hewn  in  the  rock ;  the  largest  being  south  of  the  central 
height.  All  appear  to  have  been  connected  together  by  rock-cut 
channels,  though  their  size  was  so  great  in  some  cases  that,  as  a  whole, 
they  could  probably  store  more  than  10,000,000  gallons  of  water ;  one 
cistern — known  as  the  Great  Sea — holding  no  less  than  2,000,000  gal- 
lons. The  supply  for  this  vast  system  of  reservoirs  seems  to  have 
been  obtained  from  springs,  wells,  rain,  and  aqueducts  at  a  distance. 
It  is,  indeed,  a  question  whether  any  natural  springs  existed  in  or  near 
Jerusalem,  except  the  Fountain  of  the  Virgin  in  the  Kedron  valley. 

Nearly  in  the  centre  of  the  great  open  area  is  a  raised  platform  of 
marble,  about  sixteen  feet  high,  reached  by  broad  steps,  and  on  this 
stands  the  so-called  Mosque  of  Omar,  built  over  the  naked  top  of 
Mount  Mori  h,  whence  Mahomet  is  fabled  to  have  ascended  to  heaven. 
Dated  inscriptions  from  the  Koran  represent  that  it  was  built  between 
the  years  A.D.  688  and  a.d.  693,  under  the  reign  of  the  Cahph 
Abd-el-Melek.  It  has  eight  sides,  each  sixty-six  feet  in  length,  so  that 
it  is  over  500  feet  in  circumference.  Inside,  it  is  152  feet  across.  A 
screen,  divided  by  piers  and  columns  of  great  beauty,  follows  the  lines 
of  the  eight  sides,  at  a  distance  of  thirteen  feet  from  them,  and,  then, 
within  this,  at  a  further  distance  of  thirty  feet,  is  a  second  screen,  round 
the  sacred  top  of  the  mountain,  relieved  in  the  same  way  with  pillars, 
which  support  aloft  tl>e  beautiful  dome,  sixty-six  feet  wide  at  its  base. 
Outside,  tiie  height  of  the  wall  is  thirty-six  feet,  and  it  is  pierced 

}  J9S.  fUtt.  /ttd.,  T*  Sf  8> 


814 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


[Ohav. 


below  by  four  doors.  For  sixteen  feet  from  the  platform  it  is  cased  in 
difterent-colored  marbles,  but  at  that  height  there  is  an  exquisite  series 
of  round  arches,  seven  on  each  face,  two-thirds  of  them  pierced  for 
windows;  the  rest  with  only  blind  panels.  The  upper  part  was  at  one 
time  inlaid  with  mosaics  of  colored  and  gilt  glass,  but  these  are  now 
gone.  The  whole  wall,  above  the  marble  casing,  is  covered  with 
enamelled  tiles,  showing  elaborate  designs  in  various  colors;  a  row  in 
blue  and  white  on  which  are  verses  of  the  Koran  in  interlaced  charaO' 
ters running  round  the  top.  Within,  the  piers  of  the  screens  are  cased  in 
marble,  and  their  capitals  gilded ;  the  screens  themselves,  which  are 
of  fine  wrought  iron,  being  very  elaborate,  while  the  arches  under  the 
dome  are  ornamented  with  rich  mosaic,  bordered  above  by  verses  from 
the  Koran,  and  an  inscription  stating  when  the  mosque  was  built,  the 
whole  in  letters  of  gold.  The  walls  and  dome  glitter  with  the  richest 
colors,  in  part  those  of  mosaics,  nnd  the  stained  glass  in  the  windows 
exceeds,  for  beauty,  any  I  have  seen  elsewhere.  There  could,  indeed., 
I  should  suppose,  be  no  building  more  perfectly  lovely  than  the  Mosque 
of  Omar,  more  correctly  known  as  the  Dome  of  the  Rock. 

All  this  exquisite  tnste  and  lavish  munificence  is  strangely  expended 
in  honor  of  a  hump  of  rock,  the  ancient  top  of  Moriah,  which  rises  in 
the  centre  of  the  building,  within  the  second  screen,  nearly  five  feet  at 
its  highest  point,  and  a  foot  at  its  lowest,  above  the  marble  pavement, 
and  measures  fifty-six  feet  from  north  to  south,  and  forty-two  feet  from 
east  to  west.  Had  the  Mosque  been  raised  in  honor  of  the  wondrous 
incidents  connected  with  the  spot  in  sacred  history,  it  would  have  had 
a  worthy  aim;  but  to  the  Mahommedan  it  is  sacred,  almost  entirely, 
because  he  beheves  t)iat  this  vast  rock  bore  the  Prophet  up,  like  a 
chariot,  to  Paradise;  the  finger-marks  of  the  angel  who  steadied  it  in 
its  amazing  flight  being  still  shown  to  the  credulous.  Yet,  foolish 
legend  discarded,  this  rough  mountain-top  has  an  absorbing  interest  to 
tlie  Jew  and  the  Christian  alike.  It  was  here  that  the  Jebusite, 
Araunah,  once  had  his  threshing-floor.^  It  is,  as  I  have  said,  the 
highest  point  of  Mount  Moriah,  which  sinks  steeply  to  the  valley  of  the 
Kedron,  on  the  east,  and  more  gently  in  other  directions.  On  that 
yellow  stretch  of  rock  the  heathen  subject  of  King  David  heaped  up 
liis  sheaves  and  cleansed  with  his  shovel  or  fork  the  grain  which  his 
threshing-sledge  had  separated  from  the  straw;  throwing  it  up  against 
tlie  wind,  before  which  the  chafli*  flew  afar,  as  is  so  often  brought  beforef 
us  i n  the  imagery  of  the  sacred  writers.^  The  royal  palace  on  Zion  must 
have  looked  down  on  this  threshing-floor,  and  it  may  thus  have  already 
occurred  to  David's  mind  as  a  site  for  his  Temple,  before  the  awful 
incident  which  finally  decided  his  choice.^  Nor  could  any  place  so 
suitable  have  been  found  near  Jerusalem;  and  it  appears,  besides,  to 

I  2  Sam.  JLxlv.  18, 22 ;  1  CbroQ.  xxi.  18.    2  Fs.  i.  4 ;  xxxv.  5 ;  Job  zxi.  lb.   8  2  CbroD.  Ui.  1. 


[Obat. 


ased  in 
Q  series 
ced  for 
I  at  one 
ire  now 
d  with 
,  row  in 
charao- 
}ased  in 
iicli  are 
ider  the 
;es  from 
uilt,  the 
I  richest 
irindows 
indeed; 
Mosque 

upended 
rises  in 
B  feet  at 
vement, 
set  from 
ondrous 
ave  had 
entirely, 
p,  hke  a 
lied  it  in 
t,  foolish 
terest  to 
Jebusite, 
said,  the 
jy  of  the 
On  that 
japed  up 
rhich  his 
)  against 
bit  before' 
ion  must 
5  already 
he  awful 
place  so 
esides,  to 


\\7  %-^.  nmm 


Northwest  corner  of  the  Harem  esh  S'.erif.   (See  page  818.) 


XXII.] 


JERUSALEH. 


816 


have  had  the  special  saoredness  of  having  been  the  scene,  in  far  earlier 
times,  of  the  offering  of  Isaac  by  the  Father  of  the  Faithful,  though 
Araunah's  use  of  it  shows  that  it  had  not  on  that  account  been  set 
apart  from  common  ground.  In  later  days,  also,  a  special  sanctity  is 
associated  with  this  spot  as  that  on  which,  in  all  probability,  the  great 
altar  of  the  Jewish  Temple  stood.  Sir  Charles  Warren  found  that 
huge  vaults  exist  on  the  north  side  of  the  Temple  area,  and  that  if 
these,  and  the  loose  earth  over  them,  were  removed,  that  end  of  the 
rock  would  show  a  perpendicular  face,  part  of  it  having  in  ancient 
times  been  cut  away,  while  in  another  direction  a  gutter  cut  in  the 
rock  has  been  found,  perhaps  to  drain  off  the  blood  from  the  sacrifices 
on  the  altar.^ 

Underneath  the  rock,  reached  by  a  flight  of  steps,  is  a  large  cave, 
the  roof  of  which  is  about  six  feet  high,  with  a  circular  opening  in  it, 
through  which  light  enters.  The  floor  sounds  hollow,  and  so  do  the 
rough  sides :  a  proof,  say  the  Mahommedans,  that  this  mountain  is 
hung  in  the  air.  There  is,  however,  probably,  a  lower  cave,  or  possi- 
bly a  well,  but  no  one  is  allowed  to  nnd  this  out.  Fantastic  legends, 
connected  with  every  part  of  the  whole  summit,  are  repeated  to  the 
visitor;  but  to  the  Christian  the  place  is  too  sacred  to  pay  much  heed 
to  them.  To  the  Mahommedan  world  it  is  "the  Rock  of  Paradise,  the 
Source  of  the  Rivers  of  Paradise,  the  Place  of  Prayer  of  all  Prophets, 
and  the  Foundation  Stone  of  the  World." 

Though  these  religionists  claim  with  perfect  justice  that  the  mosque 
was  built  by  Caliph  Abd-el-Melek,  it  is  by  no  means  certain  that  tiiere 
were  not  various  predecessors  of  this  beautiful  building.  Mr.  James 
Fergusson  believea  that  it,  rather  than  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sep- 
ulchre, is,  in  all  essential  particulars,  the  very  Church  of  the  Resurrec- 
tion, built  by  Constantine  over  the  place  where  our  Lord  was  believed 
to  have  been  buried,  which,  in  his  opinion,  was  the  cave  under  this 
rook.  Other  experts  have  thought  that  a  church  stood  here  between 
the  reigns  of  Constantine  and  Justinian — ^some  say,  in  the  first  third 
of  the  sixth  century.  It  was,  at  any  rate,  for  generations  a  Christian 
church  under  the  Crusaders,  and  Prankish  kin^s  offered  up  their 
crowns  to  Christ  before  the  rock  on  the  day  of  their  coronation. 

The  Mosque  el-Aksa,  which  stands  at  the  south  end  of  the  great 
enclosure,  was  originally  a  basilica  or  church  built  by  Justinian  in  the 
sixth  century  in  honor  of  the  Virgin.  The  noble  fagade  of  arches, 
surmounted  by  a  long  range  of  pinnacles,  is,  however,  Gothic,  and 
appears  to  have  been  the  work  of  the  Crusaders.  Within  there  are 
seven  aisles,  of  various  dates,  pillars  a  yard  thick,  dividing  the  nave 
firom  the  side  aisles,  and  a  dome  rising  over  the  centre  of  the  transept; 
but  the  effect  of  the  whole  is  poor,  for  the  building,  though  190  feet 
1  JWQMnr  qf  tAniMliM,  pp.  219-dtt. 


316 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


[CHAr. 


wide,  and  270  feet  broad,  is  wliitewnshed  and  coarsely  painted.  By 
this  church  tiie  Templars  once  hud  tlieir  residence;  and  the  twisted 
columns  of  tlieir  dining-hall  still  remain.  The  struggle  between  Mos- 
lems and  CliristiaiLs,  at  the  capture  of  Jerusalem,  was  especially  fierce 
in  this  building,  tiie  greater  part  of  the  ten  thousand  who  perished  by 
the  sword  of  the  Christian  warriors  falling  inside  and  round  these 
walls.  A  flight  of  ste[)s  outside  the  principal  entrance  leads  down  to  a 
wonderful  series  of  arched  vaults,  which,  with  the  great  sculptured 
pillars,  help  one  to  realize  vividly  the  vast  substructures  needed  to 
bring  this  part  of  the  hill  to  the  general  level.  When  they  were  built, 
however,  is  a  question  as  yet  undecided;  only  a  umall  portion  here  and 
there  is  very  old. 

You  could  wander  dnv  after  day  through  one  part  or  another  of  the 
strange  sights  of  the  'J  em  pie  enclosure,  and  never  tire.  In  one  place 
is  a  Mahommedan  pulpit,  with  its  straight  stair,  and  a  beautiful  canopy 
resting  on  light  pillars:  a  work  of  special  beauty.  Minarets  rise  at 
different  points  around,  enhancing  the  picturesque  effect.  Fountains, 
venerable  oratories,  and  tombs  dot  the  surface.  The  massive  Golden 
Gate  still  stands  towards  the  centre  of  the  eastern  wall,  though  long 
since  built  up,  from  a  tradition  that  the  Christians  would  one  day 
re-enter  it  in  triumph.  Seen  from  the  inside  it  is  a  massy  structure, 
with  a  flat  low-domed  roof,  carved  pilasters,  and  numerous  small 
arches,  slowly  sinking  into  decay.  It  was  always  the  chief  entrance 
to  the  Temple  from  the  east,  but,  apart  from  later  tradition,  would 
seem  to  have  been  kept  closed  from  a  very  early  period.^  Ir  its  pres- 
ent form,  the  gateway  dates  Irom  the  third  or,  perhaps,  the  sixth  cen- 
tury after  Christ,  and  till  A.D.  810  there  was  a  flight  of  steps  from  it 
down  to  the  Kedron  valley.  During  the  time  of  the  Crusaders  the 
gate  was  opened  on  Palm  Sunday,  to  allow  the  Patriarch  to  ride  in 
upon  an  ass,  amidst  a  great  procession  bearing  palm-branches,  and 
strewing  the  ground  before  him  with  their  clothes,  in  imitation  of  tiie 
entry  of  Christ.  But  it  will,  I  fear,  be  long  before  a  representative  of 
the  true  Messiah  rides  through  it  again. 

The  view  of  the  Mount  of  Olives  from  the  Temple  area  is  very  fine, 
for  only  the  Kedron  valley,  which  is  quite  narrow,  lies  between  the 
Mount  and  Moriah.  Mount  Zion  rises  on  the  south-west,  but  it  is 
only  by  the  houses  and  citadel  that  you  notice  the  greater  elevation. 
The  Crescent  flag  is  seen  waving  over  the  old  Tower  of  David.  On 
the  south-east  the  eye  follows  the  windings  of  the  Valley  of  Jehosha- 

fliat,  which  is  the  name  given  to  the  upper  part  of  that  of  the  Kedron, 
nto  it  were,  one  day,  to  fall  the  streams  which  Ezekiel  describes  in 
his  vision  of  the  restored  sanctuary,  as  destined  to  pour  forth  from 
under  the  door-sill  of  the  Temple,  and  gather  to  such  &  body  as  will 
1  ^ek.zliT.1,2. 


. 

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%■;: 

fiiteiorottlieHosvieotOmar.   (See  page  818.) 


ZxiM 


JKRUSALKll. 


817 


reach  the  Dead  Sea,  deep  down  in  its  bed  to  the  east,  changing  its  life, 
destroyin^^  water  to  healing  floods.^  From  south-west  to  north-west 
the  city  rises  like  an  amphitheatre  round  the  sacred  area,  as  Josephus 
noticed  in  his  day.^  Part  of  this  wide  space  is  paved  with  slabs  of 
limestone,  feathered  with  grass  at  every  chink,  mucli  ^of  this  being 
green,  and  sprinkled,  in  springtime,  with  thousands  of  bright  flowers. 
Olive-trees  and  cypresses  flourish  here  and  there,  and  give  most  wel- 
come shade. 

It  was  much  the  same  thousands  of  years  ago  on  this  very^  spot. 
The  Psalmist  could  then  cry  out,  "  I  am  like  a  green  olive-tree  in  the 
bouse  of  God."  "  Those  that  be  planted  in  the  house  of  the  Lord  shall 
flourish  in  the  courts  of  our  God.  They  shall  bring  forth  fruit  in  old 
age:  they  shall  be  fat  and  flourishing."^  Hero,  protected  by  high 
walls,  reclining  under  the  peaceful  shade  of  some  tree,  the  pious  Israel- 
ite realized  his  deepest  joy,  as  he  meditated  on  God,  or  bowed  in  prayer 
toward  the  Holy  of  Holies,  within  which  Jehovah  dwelt  over  the 
Mercy-seat.^  Now  in  soft  murmurs,  now  in  loud  exclamations  of  rap- 
ture, now  in  tones  of  sadness,  now  in  triumphant  singing,  his  heart 
uttered  all  its  moods.  It  was  his  highest  conception  of  pertect  felicity 
that  he  "should  dwell  in  the  house  of  the  Lord  for  ever."'^  Hither, 
from  Dan  to  Beersheba,  streamed  the  multitude  that  kept  holy-day, 
ascending  with  the  music  of  pipes  and  with  loud  rejoicings  to  the  holy 
hill,  bringing  rich  offerings  or  cattle,  sheep,  goats,  and  produce  and 
fruit  of  all  kinds,  to  the  King  of  kings.*  Here  the  choirs  of  Levites 
sang  the  sacred  chants ;  here  the  high  priest  blessed  the  people,  year 
by  year,  as  he  came'  forth  from  the  Holy  of  Holies,  into  wnich  he  had 
entered  with  the  atoning  blood,  his  reappearance  showing  that  his 
mediation  had  been  accepted,  and  their  sins  forgiven.  And  so  Christ, 
now  within  the  holy  place  in  the  heavens  pleading  the  merits  of  His 
own  blood,  will  one  day  come  forth  again,  and  "  appear  to  them  that 
look  for  Him,  without  a  sin-dBTering,  unto  salvation." "^  Here,  as  we 
are  told  by  the  Son  of  Sirach,^^ousands  on  thousands  cast  themselves 
on  the  ground,  at  the  sight  of  their  priestly  mediator,  fresh  from  the 
presence  of  the  holy  and  exalted  Lord  of  Hosts.  "  Then  shouted  the 
sons  of  Aaron,  and  sounded  the  silver  trumpets,  and  made  a  great 
noise  to  be  heard,  for  n  remembrance  before  the  Most  High.  Then  all 
the  people  hasted,  and  fell  down  to  the  earth  upon  their  faces,  to 
worship  the  Lord  God  Almighty,  the  Most  High.  Then  he  went 
down,  and  lifted  up  his  hands  over  the  whole  congregation  of  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel,  to  give  tlie  blessing  of  the  Lord  with  his  lips,  and  to 
rejoice  in  His  na'me."  And  at  an  earlier  time  it  was  here,  upon  the 
entrance  of  the  ark  into  the  newly-built  Holy  of  Holies,  at  the  Temple 

1  Ezek.  xlvli.  1-8.  2  Jos.  4n<.,  xv.  11,  5.  3  Ps.  Hi.  8;  xcli.  18, 14.  4  Ex.  xxv.  22;  Fa.  xolx.  1* 
5  Pa.  xxili.  6.  6  2  Chron.  xxx.  6, 24 ;  Deut.  xii.  5 ;  2  Ghron.  xxxv.  7.  7  Heb.  Ix.  88.  8  Ecclus.  1. 10, 
17,20. 


818 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


tCtikV. 


dedication  under  Solomon,  "it  came  even  to  pass,  as  the  trumpeters 
and  singers,  as  one,  made  one  sound  to  be  heard  in  praising  and  thank- 
ing the  Lord ;  and  when  they  lifted  up  their  voice  with  the  trumpets 
and  cymbals  and  instruments  of  music,  and  praised  the  Lord,  saying. 
For  He  is  good  ;  for  His  mercy  endureth  for  ever:  that  then  the  house 
was  filled  with  a  cloud,  for  the  glory  of  the  Lord  had  filled  the  house 
of  God."  1  The  heavenly  and  earthly  Fatherland  of  the  Israelite  thus 
seemed  here  to  fade  into  each  other.  Who  does  not  remember  the 
touching  cry  of  the  Jewish  prisoner  from  the  sources  of  the  Jordan,  on 
his  way  to  exile?  "As  the  heart  panteth  after  the  water-brooks,  so 
panteth  my  soul  after  Thee,  0  God.  .  .  .  For  I  had  gone  with  the 
multitude,  1  went  with  them  to  the  house  of  God,  with  the  voice  of 
joy  and  praise,  with  a  multitude  that  kept  holyday."^  But  peaceful 
as  this  place  is  now,  and  sacred  as  it  was  in  its  earlier  days,  how  often 
has  it  been  the  scene  of  the  most  embittered  strife,  since  the  times  of 
Solomon  I  The  first  Temple,  with  all  its  glory,  had  gone  up  in  smoke 
and  flames,  amidst  the  shouts  of  Nebuchadnezzar's  troops,  after  a 
defence  which  steeped  the  wide  area  in  blood ;  and  at  the  conquest  of 
the  city  by  Titus,  thousands  fell,  within  its  bounds,  by  the  weapons  of 
the  Roman  soldiers,  or  perished  in  the  flames  of  the  third  Temple, 
amidst  shrieks  from  the  crowds  on  Zion,  heard  even  above  the  roar  of 
strife  and  of  the  conflagration. 


fi 


I 


isi 


CHAPTER  XXin. 

JERUSALEM — {Continued.) 

It  is  not  easy  to  restore  in  imagination  the  appearance  presented  by 
the  Temple  in  its  most  glorious  days,  but  it  must  have  been  very  mag- 
nificent. Even  from  what  still  remains,  we  cannot  wonder  that  the 
disciples  should  have  called  the  attention  of  their  Master  to  the  archi 
tecture  around :  "  Master,  see  what  manner  of  stones  and  what  build- 
ings are  herel"*  The  solid  wall,  at  one  comer,  still  rises  to  a  height 
of  180  feet  above  the  ancient  level  of  the  ground — now  buried  thus 
deep  under  rubbish;  at  another  place  it  is  138  feet  above  it;  and  in 
one  spot  you  may  see,  at  a  height  of  eighty-five  feet  above  the  original 
surface,  a  stone  nearly  thirty-nine  feet  long,  four  feet  high,  and  ten  feet 
deep,  which  was  lifted  into  the  air  and  put  in  its  place  while  the  wall 
was  being  built.    The  rubbish  which  now  lies  from  sixty  to  nearly  100 

1  2  Ghron.  v.  IS,  14.   2  Ps.  zlii.  1, 4.   3  Mark  xiii.  1. 


Ii 
I 


\\ 


XXIU.] 


JERUSALEM. 


819 


feet  deep,  against  different  parts  of  the  walls,  hides  their  originally 
grand  effect ;  but  they  were  bare,  and  in  all  the  dazzling  whiteneps  of 
reoent  erection,  when  Christ  and  His  disciples  stood  to  admirf   hem. 

These  amazing  walls  were  surrounded  by  magnificent  cloisters, 
which  were  double  on  tl.3  north,  east,  and  west  sides;  columns,  of  a 
single  piece  of  white  marble,  supporting  roofs  of  carved  cedar.  The 
royal  cloisters  on  the  south  wall  were  still  grander,  for  they  consisted 
of  three  aisles,  the  roofs  of  which  were  borne  up  by  16?.  huge  pillars 
with  Corinthian  capitals,  distributed  in  four  rows.  The  centre  arch, 
which  was  higher  than  the  two  others,  rose  forty-five  feet  rloft — twenty 
feet  above  its  neighbors — and  the  roofs  of  the  whole,  like  those  o^  the 
other  cloisters,  were  of  carved  cedarr  The  front  was  of  polished  stone, 
joined  together  with  incredible  exabtness  and  beauty.  On  all  sides  of 
the  Temple,  a  space  varying  from  about  thirty-six  to  forty-fivfl  feet 
formed  the  cloisters  into  which,  as  into  the  Court  of  the  Gentiles,  pros- 
elytes might  enter ;  whence  its  name.  This  was  the  part  where  the 
changers  of  provincial  coins  into  the  shekel  of  the  sanctuary,  which 
alone  could  be  put  into  the  Temple  treasury,  had  their  tables  in 
Christ's  day,  and  here  doves  were  sold  for  offerings,  and  beasts  for  saC' 
rifice,  and  salt  for  the  altar,  with  whatever  else  was  needed  by  worship- 
pers: the  whole  a  mart  so  unholy  that  our  Lord,  as  He  drove  the 
intruders  forth,  declared  it  to  be  a  den  of  thieves.^  The  magnificent 
cloister  on  the  east  side  was  called  Solomon's  Porch ;  its  cool  shade 
offered,  at  all  times,  attractions  to  crowds  whom  the  Babbis,  and  also 
our  Lord,  took  occasion  to  gather  round  them  from  time  to  time.^ 
Hither  also  the  multitude  ran  after  St.  Peter  and  St.  John,  when  they 
had  cured  the  lame  man  at  the  Beautiful,  or  Nicanor,  Gate,^on  the 
east  of  the  Court  of  the  Priests. 

A  few  steps  upwards  led  from  the  Court  of  the  Gentiles  to  a  flat  ter- 
race, about  twenty  feet  broad  on  the  south  side,  and  about  fifteen  feet 
on  the  others,  its  outer  limit  being  guarded  by  a  stone  screen  over  four 
feet  high,  upon  which,  at  fixed  distances  apart,  hung  notices,  a  cast 
from  one  of  which  l.i  now  in  the  Louvre,  threatening  death  to  any  for- 
eigner who  should  pass  within.  The  inscription  reads :  "  No  stranger 
is  to  enter  within  the  balustrade  round  the  Temple  enclosure.  "Who- 
ever is  caught  will  be  responsible  to  himself  for  his  death,  which  will 
ensue."  It  was  for  being  supposed  to  have  taken  Trophimus,  an 
Ephesian  proselyte,  inside  these  prohibitory  warnings,  that  the  Jews 
rose  in  wild  excitement  against  St.  Paul,  and  would  have  torn  him  in 
pieces  had  not  the  commandant  of  the  fortress  Antonia,  on  the  north- 
west corner  of  the  Temple  grounds,  hurried  to  his  aid  with  a  band  of 
soldiers.* 

1  M»tt.  xxl.18:  Mark  xi.l7;  Luke  xix.46.  The  Court  of  the  Gentiles  was  nearly  150  feet  in 
extent  on  the  north  and  east,  100  on  the  vest,  and  800  on  the  south.  2  John  x.  23.  3  Acts.  ili.  2. 
4  Actsxxi.M. 


/ 


820 


THE   HOLY  LAND   AND  THE   BIBLE. 


[Chap. 


A  part  of  the  inside  space  formed  the  Court  of  the  "Women,  who 
were  allowed  to  walk  or  worship  here,  if  cerernouially  clean,  but  not 
to  go  nearer  the  sanctuary.  The  Inner  Temple  stood  on  a  platform, 
reached  by  another  flight  of  steps  through  gates  from  below,  but  by 
the  worshippers  there,  and  in  the  still  lower  Court  of  the  Gentiles,  only 
so  much  of  the  Temple  itself  was  seen  as  rose  above  a  platform  nearly 
forty  feet  high,  forming  a  square  more  than  300  feet  long  on  each  face, 
on  which  the  sacred  building  stood.  Seven  gates  opened  from  this 
into  the  Courts  of  the  Men  of  Israel  and  of  the  Priests,  and  three  more 
led  into  the  Court  of  the  Women.  One  of  these,  the  Beautiful,  was 
also  called  the  Nicanor  Gate,  because  the  hands  of  the  Syrian  general 
of  that  name  were  nailed  over  it,  when  he  fell  before  the  host  of  Judas 
Maccabseus;  report  alleging  that  he  had  lifted  these  hands,  in  con- 
tempt, towards  the  Holy  Place,  and  sworn  to  destroy  it.  The  name 
"  Beautiful  "was  fitly  given  to  this  gate  from  its  being  made  of  almost 
priceless  Corinthian  brass,  and  covered  with  specially  rich  plates  of 
gold.  The  other  nine  gates,  and  even  their  side-posts  and  lintels,  shone 
resplendent  with  a  covering  of  gold  and  silver.  Within  them  rose  the 
Temple,  reached  by  passing  through  the  Court  of  the  Israelites  and 
that  of  the  Priests,  one  above  the  other,  with  flights  of  steps  between. 
Beyond  and  above  them,  on  the  highest  terrace  of  all,  stood  the  Tem- 
ple ;  its  front  about  150  feet  long,  though  the  Holy  Place,  or  Temple 
pi'oper,  behind  this,  was  only  about  sixty  feet  from  east  to  west,  forty 
feet  across, -and  about  forty-five  feet  high,  while  the  Holy  of  Holies 
*  was  a  small  dark  chamber,  not  more  than, thirty  feet  square.  In  front 
of  the  Temple  ran  a  porch,  about  sixteen  feet  deep,,  extending,  appar- 
ently, to  within  forty  feet  of  each  side,  and  shut  off*  from  the  Holy 
Place  by  a  wall  nine  feet  thick.  Through  this  that  awful  chamber 
was  entered  by  a  door,  before  which  hung  a  heaVy  veil ;  another  of 
the  finest  texture,  from  the  looms  of  Babylon,  adorned  "  with  blue  and 
fine  linen,  and  scarlet,  and  purple,"  hanging  before  the  sacred  solitude 
of  the  Holy  of  Holies.  A  screen,  in  front  of  the  porch,  was  sur- 
mounted by  a  great  golden  vine,  which,  it  may  be,  our  Lord  had  in 
mind  when  He  spoke  of  Himself  as  the  True  Viue.^ 

Thirty-eight  small  chambers,  in  two  stories  on  the  north  and  south, 
and  three  on  the  west,  clung  to  the  Temple  on  these  three  sides.  The 
entrance  was  from  the  east,  perhaps  so  that  worshippers,  while  pray- 
ing before  Jehovah,  might  turn  their  backs  on  the  sun,  so  universally 
honored  as  the  Supreme  God  by  the  heathen  nations  of  Western  Asia. 
Thus  the  men  seen  in  Ezekiel's  vision  praying  in  "  the  inner  court  of 
the  Lord's  house,  between  tho  porch  and  the  altar,  with  their  backs 
towards  the  temple  of  the  Lord,  and  their  faces  towards  the  east," 
showed  that  to  "  worship  the  sun  "  they  had  turned  away  from  wor- 
1  John  XT.  1. 


Old  Qn>nw  Trees  ia  the  Garden  ot  Buna  Beh'Shertf.  (See  page  a?.) 


xxm.] 


JEBUSALEM. 


821 


shipping  Jehovah.*     The  great  brazen  altar  stood,  as  these  words  of 
the  prophet  indicate,  in  the  open  spaoe  before  the  porch. 

Such  a  building,  rising  on  a  marole  terrace  of  its  own,  with  its  walls 
of  pure  white  stone,  covered  in  parts  with  plates  of  bright  gold,  and 
marble-paved  courts  lying  one  under  another  beneath — all  held  up, 
over  the  whole  vast  area  of  the  levelled  summit  of  Moriah,  by  walls  of 
almost  fabulous  height  and  splendor — must  have  presented  an  appear- 
ance rarely  if  ever  equalled  by  any  sanctuary  of  ancient  or  modern 
times. 

Two  bridges  led  from  Zion,  the  upper  hill,  ove»the  Valley  of  the 
Cheese-mongers  to  Moriah.  One  of  these,  now  known  as  Eobinson's 
Arch,  from  its  discoverer,  was  built  thirty-nine  feet  north  of  the  south- 
west corner,  and  had  a  span  of  forty-two  feet :  forming,  perhaps,  the 
first  of  a  series  of  arches  leading  by  a  flight  of  stairs  from  the  Tyro- 
poeon  Valley,  or  Valley  of  the  Cheese-mongers,  to  the  broad  centre 
aisle  of  Solomon's  Porch,  which,  as  we  have  seen,  ran  along  the  west- 
ern wall  of  Herod's  Temple.  The  stones,  of  which  a  few  still  jut  from 
the  wall  of  the  Temple  enclosure,  were  of  great  size — some  from  nine- 
teen to  twenty-five  feet  long — but  all,  except  those  forming  the  three 
lower  courses,  with  the  fine  pillars  that  supported  them,  now  lie  more 
than  forty  feet  below  the  present  surface  of  the  ground,  where  they  fell 
when  the  bridge  was  destroyed ;  the  pavement  on  which  they  rest  is 
of  polished  stone.  So  deep  below  the  level  of  to-dav  was  that  of  this 
part  of  the  acity  in  the  time  of  our  Lord.  Even  this  depth,  however, 
m  a  place  so  ancient,  does  not  represent  the  original  surface,  for  below 
the  pavement,  thus  deeply  buried,  were  found  remainsof  an  older  arch, 
and,  still  lower,  a  channel  for  water,  hewn  in  the  rock ;  perhaps  one  of 
the  aqueducts  made  by  order  of  Hezekiah,  when  he  introduced  his 
great  improvements  in  the  water-supply  of  the  city.^  The  masonry 
at  the  corner  of  the  enclosure,  which  is  ancient  up  to  the  level'  of  the 
present  surface  and  even  slightly  above  it,  shows  better  perhaps  than 
any  other  part  the  perfection  of  the  original  workmanship  throughout, 
for  the  blocks  of  stone  are  so  nicely  fitted  to  each  other,  without  mor- 
tar, that  even  now  a  penknife  can  hardly  be  thrust  between  them. 
There  must,  of  course,  have  been  a  gate  through  which  Bobinson's 
Arch  led  to  the  sacred  area,  but  the  present  wall  was  built  after  the 
arched  approach  had  been  destroyed,  and  ignors  it.  About  forty- three 
yards  farther  north  there  are  the  remains  of  another  gate,  which  led 
from  the  western  cloisters  of  the  Temple  to  the  city,  showing  by  the 
size  of  the  entrance  when  it  was  perfect  how  great  the  concourse  must 
have  been  that  passed  through  it,  for  it  was  nearly  nineteen  feet  wide, 
and  twenty-nine  feet  high ;  its  lintel  being  formed  by  one  enormous 
stone,  reaching  across  the  whole  breadth,  as  in  Egyptian  temples. 

1  Ezek.  viii.  16.   2  2  Chron.  xzxli.  9. 
21 


822 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


[UHAl'. 


The  extreme  age  of  Jerusalem  ns  a  city  receives  another  illustration 
ill  the  fact  that,  though  the  gate  is  noticed  by  Josephus,  its  sill  rests 
«>n  very  nearly  fifty  feet  of  accumulations  over  the  natural  rock  below. 
It  once  gave  access  to  a  vaulted  passage  wliich  ran  up  in  a  sharp  angle 
from  the  city  to  the  Temple  area. 

A  little  north  of  this  gate  is  a  spot  of  intense  interest — the  place 
where  the  Jews  of  both  sexes,  all  ages,  and  from  all  countries,  come 
daily,  but  especially  on  Fridays,  to  lament  the  destruction  of  their 
Temple,  the  defilement  of  their  city,  and  the  sufferings  of  their  race. 
Ever  since  the^fall  of  Jerusalem,  the  Israelite  has  mourned,  in  deepest 
sorrow,  over  his  religious  and  national  griefs,  but  the  faith  that  Zion 
will  one  day  rise  again  from  her  degradation  to  more  than  her  former 
glory,  is  alike  invincible  and  amazing.  At  least  seventy  feet  of  rub- 
bish lie  heaped  over  the  ground  where  the  mourners  assemble,  so  high 
is  the  present  pavement  above  that  trodden  by  their  fathers;  but  some 
courses  of  the  ancient  Temple  wall  still  rise  above  it,  and  it  is  believed 
that  this  point  is  nearest  to  where  the  Holy  of  Ilolies  once  stood. 
Huge  bevelled  masses  of  stone  lie  in  fair  order  one  over  another,  defy- 
ing the  violence  of  man  and  natural  decay.  The  Jews  cannot  enter 
the  sacred  enclosure  any  more  than  the  Christians,  but  here,  at  least, 
they  obtained  many  centuries  ago,  by  a  heavy  ransom,  the  privilege 
of  touching  and  kissing  the  holy  stones.  Prayer-book  in  hand  they 
stand  in  their  fur  caps  and  long  black  gaberdines,  reciting  supplica- 
tions for  '^ion,  in  hope  that  the  set  time  to  favor  hgr  may  speedily- 
come.  The  Seventy-ninth  Psalm  is  often  read  aloud,  and  is  always  in 
their  hearts:  "O  God,  the  heathen  are  come  into  Thine  inheritance; 
Thy  holy  temple  have  they  defiled ;  they  have  laid  Jerusalem  in  heaps. 
.  .  Pour  out  Thy  wrath  upon  the  heathen  that  have  not  known  Thee, 
and  upon  the  kingdoms  that  have  not  called  upon  Thy  name."^  The 
most  touching  litanies  are  recited;  one  of  them  beginning  thus: — 

<<  For  the  palace  that  lies  waste ; 
For  the  Temple  that  is  destroyed , 
For  the  walls  that  are  torn  down ; 
For  our  glory  that  is  vanished ; 
For  the  great  stones  that  are  burned  to  dust;'* 

the  hearers,  after  every  lament,  responding : — 

"  Here  sit  we  now,  lonely,  and  weep  I" 

The  Jews  live  in  their  own  quarter  on  the  eastern  sWpe  of  Zion, 
close  to  the  old  Temple  area,  but  their  part  of  Jerusalem  is  as  unat- 
tractive as  their  sorrows  are  touching.    Their  streets  are  the  filthiest 

1Pb.1zx1x.1-«. 


1  Jer. 
xvi.  29. 


xxin.] 


JERUSALEM. 


828 


in  a  filthy  city,  and  their  dwelling  among  the  poorest.  They  may 
have  had  "  wide  houses  and  large  chambers,  and  windows  out  out,  and 
ceilings  of  cedar,  and  walls  of  vermilion"  in  the  days  of  Jeremiah,^ 
but  these  are  traditions  of  a  very  distant  past.  Until  recently,  indeed, 
their  condition  was  even  more  wretchea  than  it  is  now,  "The  Israel- 
itish  Alliance"  in  Western  Europe  having  afforded  them  systematic 
lielp  for  a  number  of  years,  though  the  first  necessity,  beyond  question, 
is  to  teach  them  the  most  elementary  ideas  of  cleanliness.  How  they 
live  aimidst  the  foulness  of  their  alleys  is  a  wonder.  They  are  all 
foreigners,  for  during  many  centuries  no  Jew  was  permitted  to  dwell  in 
the  Holy  City.  Now,  however,  }car  fter  year,  numbers  come,  es- 
pecially from  Spain  and  Poland,  to  spend  their  last  days  in  their  dear 
Jerusalem,  and  oe  buried  beside  their  fathers,  in  the  valley  of  Jeho- 
shaphat,  the  scene,  as  they  believe,  of  the  resurrection  and  of  the  final 
judgment.2  To  be  there  saves  them,  they  think,  a  long  journey  after 
death,  through  the  body  of  the  earth,  from  the  spot  where  they  may 
lie  to  this  final  gathering-place  of  their  people.  They  come  to  Jeru- 
salem to  die,  no*;  to  live,  but  many  arc  in  the  prime  of  life  and  have 
families,  and  the  rising  generation  are  less  gloomy  in  their  views. 
The  young  men,  in  all  wie  glory  of  love-locks,  fur-edged  caps,  and  long 
gaberdines,  are  as  keen  after  business  or  pleasure  as  their  brethren 
elsewhere,  their  creed  evidently  being  a  settled  aim  to  make  the  best 
of  at  least  the  present  world. 

To  make  sure  of  a  rart  in  the  kingdom  of  the  Messiah,  and  the 
glories  of  the  restored  Ti>iii|ilu  and  city,  ^e  Jerusalem  Israelite  leads  a 
strenuously  religious  life,  according  to  his  idea  of  religion;  striving 
with  painful  earnestness  to  fulfil  all  the  ten  thousand  lUbbinical  pre- 
cepts founded  on  the  Law  of  Moses,  so  as  to  be  like  St.  Paul,  "  blame- 
less "  touching  that  righteousness.*  The  Law  is  studied  through  the 
whole  night  in  the  schools;  frivolous  applications  of  the  sacred  letter 
being  eagerly  sought,  in  supposed  fulfilment  of  the  command,  "  Ye 
shall  teach  these.  My  words,  to  your  children,  speaking  of  them  when 
thou  sittest  in  thine  house  and  when  thou  walkest  by  the  way,  when 
thou  liest  down  and  when  thou  risest  up."*  In  the  synagogue,  men 
are  found  at  all  hours,  busy  reading  the  Talmud.  I'he  Sabbath  is 
observed  with  more  than  its  anc'ent  strictness.  From  the  evening  of 
Friday  to  that  of  Saturday,  no  light  or  fire  is  kindled,  in  accordance 
with  the  injunction,  "  Ye  shall  kindle  no  fire  throughout  your  habita- 
tions upon  the  Sabbath  day."*  To  go  beyond  two  thousand  steps  on 
the  holy  day  is  a  grave  sin,  for  it  is  written,  "  Abide  ye  every  man  in 
his  place;  let  no  man  go  out  of  his  place  on  the  seventh  day:"®  a 
precept  understood  so  literally  by  one  Jewish  sect  in  past  times  that 

1  Jer.  xxii.  14.   2  Joel  Ul.  2, 12;  Zecb,  xiv.  4.   8  Phil.  ill.  6.    4  Deut.  vi.  7.    5  Ex.  xxxv.  3.   6  Ex. 
xvl.29. 


824 


THB   ttoLY  LAKD  AND  TAB  BIBLK. 


(Ohap. 


they  never  rose  on  llic  Sabbath  from  the  place  where  its  first  moment 
found  them.  Indeed,  the  Essenes,  a  sect  of  Jewish  ascetics  iu  the  days 
of  our  Lord,  would  not  even  lift  a  vessel  to  quench  their  thirst  on  that 
day.^  In  the  afternoon  of  each  day  there  is  preaching  in  the  syna> 
gogues.  At  the  Passover  only  unleavened  bread  is  eaten,  and  booths 
are  raised  at  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles.^  But  the  most  solemn  day  of 
the  year  is  the  one  preceding  the  Jewish  New  Year's  Day,  in  Septem- 
ber. Penitential  prayers  are  said  for  three  hours  before  sunrise,  and 
every  Jew  allows  himself  to  receive  forty  stripes  save  one,*  the  flagel- 
lator  saying  to  the  person  he  chastises,  "  My  son,  despise  not  the  chas- 
tening of  the  Lord ;  neither  be  weai-y  of  His  correction.  For  whom 
the  Lord  loveth.  He  correcteth;  even  as  a  father  the  son  in  whom  he 
delighteth."*  On  the  other  hand,  there  is  great  rejoicing  in  the 
synagogues  at  some  of  the  other  feasts,  the  congregation  leaping,  danc- 
ing, singing,  and  shouting  in  their  gladness.  On  some  of  these  occa- 
sions the  multitude  stream  forth  with  bright  faces,  men  and  women 
singing  aloud,  and  make  a  procession  through  their  quarter,  with  the 
roll  of  the  Law  in  their  midst.  The  traditions  of  their  fathers  thus 
live  with  *  ^em  still,  for,  in  some  such  way,  David,  three  thousand  years 
ago,  in  the  same  place,  "danced  before  the  Lord  with  all  his  might."* 
If  the  condition  of  the  Israelites  in  Jerusalem,  of  whom  there  are 
about  four  thousand,  is  in  general  very  humble  and  wretched,  it  is 
made  still  harder  by  their  frozen  bigotry.  Protestant  missions,  es- 
pecially in  late  years,  have  undoubtedly  made  some  progress,  but  the 
mass  of  the  Hebrew  population  still  hate  the  light,  and  ding  to  the 
great  memories  of  the  past,  embittered  against  the  whole  iiu*nan  race. 
It  is  a  striking  thought,  that  in  all  probability  the  Praetcrium,  in 
which  our  Saviour  was  tried  and  condemned,  lay  in  the  quarter  now 
inhabited  by  the  Jews.®  A  great  marble-paved  space  ex.«nded  iu 
front  of  it,  surrounded  by  halls,  resting  on  rows  of  lofty  pillars.  On  a 
raised  platform  facing  this  square,  the  judgment-seat  of  Pilate  was 

f)laced,  and  here  the  Innocent  One  was  shown  by  the  Governor  to  the 
anatical  mob  below,  only,  however,  to  raise  a  wild  outcry  of  "Crucify 
Himl  Crucify  Him!  His  blood  come  on  us  and  on  our  children."^ 
But  those  children  were  still  in  the  vigor  of  hfe  when  the  last  hideous, 
despairing  struggle  with  the  Komans  drove  them  hither,  after  the 
Temple  had  been  burned,  and  turned  the  mansion  and  Judgment-hall 
of  Pilate  into  the  scene  of  their  final  destruction.  "Victorious  here,  as 
already  in  the  upper  city,  the  legionaries  cut  down  everyone  they 
could,  till  the  streets  were  covered  with  dead  bodies  and  the  whole 
town  was  soaked  in  gore;  many  a  burning  house,  if  we  may  trust 
Josephus,  having  its  flames  extinguished  in  blood.^     The  descendants 

1  Herzog,  2te  Auf..  xiii.  167.    2  Lev.  xziii.  4, 40:  Neh.  viii.  15, 16.    3  Deut.  xxv.  3;  2  C!or.  zi.  24. 
4  Frov.  Hi.  11 :  Heb.  xil.  5, 6.     5  2  Sam.  vl.  14.    6  Blehm,  p.  609.    7  Matt.  zxTii.  22, 23, 25.    8  Jos'. 


"7 


Let  them 
make  haste,  and 
take  up  a  wail- 
ing for  us,  that 
our  eyesmav 
run  down  with 
tears,  and  our 
eyelids  gush  out 
with  waters. 

For  a  voice  of 
wailing  is  heard 
out  of  Zion, 
How  are  we 
spoiled  I  we  are 

freatly  con- 
ounded,  be- 
cause we  have 
forsaken  the 
land,  because 
our  dwellings 
have  oast  us 
out. 

Tet  hear  the 
w  o  r  d  o  f  the 
Lord,  O  ye 
wornen,  and  let 
your  ear  receive 
the  word  of  his 
mouth,  and 
teac  h  y  our 
daughters  wail- 
inp;.— Jlsr.  ix. 
18-30. 


THE  WAILINQ  PLAGE  OTP  THE  JEWS.   (See  page  8M0 


X 


xxin.] 


JERUSALKM. 


825 


of  that  unhappy  generation  have  built  their  homei  over  the  rabbiih 
under  iwhioh  Pilate'i  Judgmeiit-oourts  are  deeply  buried,  but  their 
souls  are  still  bound  in  the  same  chains  as  then  enslaved  their  aaces* 
turs,  and  their  darkness  is  still  as  profouDd.  Were  Christ  to  stand 
before  them  to-day,  there  can  be  no  doubt  He  would  meet  the  same 
cry — to  send  Him  to  the  cross.  The  time  to  favor  Zion,  in  the  high- 
est sense,  has  not  yet  come.  But  amidst  all  their  humiliation  and 
misery,  they  still  draw  consolation  from  the  fact  that  they  inhabit  the 
Holy  City,  and  have  had  part  of  Mount  Zion  itself  assigned  them  as 
their  quarter.  Even  this  cannot  be  without  influence  on  tlieir  spiritual 
life,  in  spite  of  their  narrowness  and  pride.  For  have  not  their 
ancient  psalmists  and  prophets  sung  its  praises?  "Beautiful  for  situa- 
tion,  the  joy  of  the  whole  earth,  is  Mount  Zion,  the  city  of  the  great 
King."*  To  he  brought  thus,  continually,  to  the  contemplation  of 
Jehovah,  must  exercise  a  mighty  power  in  raising  and  purifying  their 
inner  religious  thoughts. 

A  sitort  distance  north  of  the  Wailing-place  of  the  Jews  are  the 
remains  of  the  second  bridge,'''  which  formed  part  of  another  great 
viaduct  from  the  Temple  grounds  over  the  valley  to  Mount  Zion:  the 
most  striking  relic  yet  found  of  ancient  Jerusalem.  It  is  on  a  line 
with  David  Street,  which  passes  over  part  of  it,  but  other  foundations 
of  arches,  vaults,  and  chambers  extend,  at  the  side  of  the  street,  for 
more  than  2f  0  feet  from  the  Temple  enclosure.  One  hall  seems  as  if 
it  had  been  a  ^ard-house  as  long  ago  as  the  time  of  the  Maccabees, 
and  even  now  it  is  connected  with  a  long  subterranean  gallery,  con- 
struoted,  most  probably,  to  enable  soldiers  to  passjrom  David's  Tower, 
near  the  Joppa  Gate,  to  the  Temple,  without  being  seen.  A  strange 
use  of  it  by  Simon,  the  son  of  Giorias,  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  final 
insurrection  against  the  Romans,  vividlv  recalls  the  scene  after  the 
capture  of  Jerusalem  by  Titus;  for  by  this  tunnel  he  passed  from  the 
upper  city  to  the  Temple  enclosure,  trying  to  frighten  the  Roman  sol- 
diers, and  thus  escape  by  pretending  to  be  a  ghost.  The  Castle,  or 
Tower,  of  Antonia,  which  owed  its  name  to  Herod  the  Great's  flattery 
of  Mark  Antony,  then  his  patron,  stood,  as  has  been  noticed,  on  the 
site  of  the  present  Turkish  barracks,  at  the  north-west  corner  of  the 
Temple  area.  A  mass  of  rock,  separated,  on  the  north,  from  the  low 
hill  of  Bezetha  by  a  ditch  165  feet  wide,  and  from  twenty-six  to  thirty- 
three  feet  deep,  formed  the  plateau  fVom  which  it  rose.  Of  great  size,  it 
was  the  key  to  the  possession  of  the  Temple,  as  the  citadel  was  to  that 
of  the  upper  town.  The  rock  foundation  was  seventy-five  feet  high, 
its  face  cased  over  with  smooth  stones  like  the  lower  part  of  the  Tower 
of  David,  "so  that  anyone  who  tried  either  to  climb  or  descend  it  had 
no  foothold."    At  each  corner  of  the  fort  were  towers;  the  one  at  th^ 

iyi.xlvUl.3.  2  8«e  ante,  p.  016. 


S2d 


Yfifi  noVt  LA^D  AKD  Tfifi  BI&Lti. 


tORA». 


south-east,  over  100  feet  high,  to  overlook  the  whole  Temple  area, 
while  that  at  the  south-west  had  underground  passages  by  which  sol- 
diers could  be  marched  into  the  cloisters  of  the  Temple  to  quell  any 
tumult. 

Mount  Zion  falls  very  steeply  to  the  south  and  south-west,  and  must 
therefore  have  been  very  easily  defended.  In  the  grounds  of  the 
Protestant  Schools,  moreover,  on  the  south-west  corner  a  system  of 
rock-cisterns  and  a  series  of  perpendicular  escarpments  of  the  rock, 
twenty-five  feet  high,  which  appear  to  have  been  continued,  in  huge 
steps  to  the  bottom  of  the  hill  far  below,  have  been  discovered,  which 
show  that  the  Jebusites,  who  originally  held  Jerusalem,  spared  no  pains 
to  make  it  impregnable.  It  was  natural,  therefore,  that  they  should 
taunt  David  when  he  wished  to  get  possession  of  it,  telling  him,  "Thou 
shalt  not  come  in  hither;  for  even  the  blind  and  the  lame  will  keep 
thee  away."^  A  fiery  spirit  like  that  of  the  shepherd -king  could  iU 
brook  such  an  insult.  "Whoso  smiteth  the  Jebusites,  and  hurleth 
both  blind  and  lame  down  the  cliff,  shall  be  chief  captain,"  ^  cried  he, 
in  his  anger,  and  Joab  won  the  award.  Once  master  of  Zion,  David 
began  that  enriching  of  it  with  palaces  and  public  buildings  which, 
continued  under  his  successors,  made  it,  till  the  destruction  of  Jerusa- 
lem by  Nebuchadnezzar,  the  concentration  of  all  the  pomp  and  splen- 
dor of  the  kingdom,  that  associated  with  the  Temple  excepted.  It 
was,  apparently,  on  Zion  that  he  built  his  palace,  through  the  skilled 
aid  of  Phoenician  architects,  masons,  and  carpenters  ;3  the  very  wood 
coming,  in  rafts,  from  Tyre  to  Joppa,,  whence  it  was  ci jagged  up  to 
Jerusalem.  Near  the  royal  dwelling  probably,  rose  the  barracks  spoken 
of  in  Nehemiah  as  "the  House  of  the  Heroes,"*  for  the  Crethi  and 
Plethi,^  who  formed  the  king's  body-guard:  a  band  of  the  warlike 
Philistines,  enrolled  by  David  for  his  personal  defence,  after  the  subju- 
gation of  the  Philistine  plain.  The  two  names  seem  to  imply  this,  for 
they  are  respectively  those  of  the  first  immigration  of  the  race  from 
Crete  in  the  patriarchal  times,  and  of  the  second  immigration  in  the 
days  of  the  Judges.  Captain  Conder,  indeed,  speaks  of  the  Philistines 
as  called  Cherethites  or  Crethi,  from  "Keratiyeh,"  a  village  still 
existing  in  the  Philistine  plain,  and  of  Pelethites  as  simply  equivalent 
to  "immigrants" — he  supposes,  from  Egypt;  but  neither  of  these 
details  disproves  the  original  exodus  of  the  race  was  from  Caphtor,* 
which  is  admittedly  Crete. 

The  ambition  of  the  great  king,  true  to  the  spirit  of  an  Oriental, 
turned  especially  upon  the  construction  of  a  grand  series  of  rock-hewn 
tombs  for  himself  and  his  descendants,  on  the  south-west  luce  of  the 
Tyropoeon  Valley.^     There,  perhaps,  to  this  day,  lie  the  twelve  suc- 

12Sam.  V.6.  2  2Sain.  v.  8.  Ewald's  reading.  Kell  follows  it.  3  2  Sam.  v.  11 ;  1  Chron.  xlv.  1. 
4  Nell.  iii.  16.  5  2  Sam.  viii.  18;  xv.  18;  xx.  7, 23;  1  Kiu^s  i.  38,  44;  1  Cliron.  xviit.  17.  6  Ainos  ix.7. 
7  Nell.  iii.  16. 


I 


\ 


[Ctua. 

i  area, 
ah  sol- 
3II  any 

i  must 
of  the 
tem  of 
e  rock, 
n  huge 
which 

0  pains 
should 
"Thou 
11  keep 
ould  ill 
hurleth 
ried  he, 
,  David 

1  which, 
Jerusa- 
d  splen- 
ted.    It 

skilled 
y  wood 
d  up  to 
spoKen 
ithi  and 
warlike 
e  subju- 
this,  for 
ice  from 
»n  in  the 
lilistines 
ige  still 
uivalent 
3f  these 
aphtor,* 

Oriental, 
ck-hewn 
!e  of  the 
elve  suc- 

hron.  xiv.  1. 
>  Ainosix.7. 


\ 

/ 

XX 

ces 
pr 
toi 
A, 
11 
aff 
th 
du 
da 

XXIII.l 


JERUSALEM. 


827 


cessors  of  David,  from  Solomon  to  Aliaz,  with  Jelioiada,  the  great  high 
priest,  but  without  Uzziah,  who  was  excluded  for  his  leprosy.^  The 
tomb  of  David  was  still  well  known  in  the  time  of  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles,^  but,  according  to  Josephus,  it  had  been  opened,  first  by 
Hyrcanus,  and  then  by  Herod,  to  rob  it  of  the  treasures  which  tradition 
affirmed  Solomon  to  have  buried  with  his  father.*  So  early  as  the 
third  century  after  Christ,  however,  the  true  site  of  this  "  acre  of  royal 
dust"  had  been  lost,  and  we  can  only  hope  that  excavation  may  one 
day  bring  it  again  to  light.  Authorities  differ  as  to  the  position  of 
Solomon's  palace,  but  no  less  an  expert  than  Dr.  Miihlau  thinks  it  was 
built  on  the  western  side  of  the  Tyropoeon,  and  thus  on  Mount  Zion.* 
On  the  same  spot,  at  a  later  date,  rose  also  the  palace  of  the  Asmonsean 
kings,  and  that  of  Agrippa  II.  Under  Solomon  the  citizens  had  the 
glory  of  Zion  increased  by  the  magnificent  "  House  of  the  Forest  of 
Lebanon,"  so  called  from  its  costly  cedar  pillars,  numerous,  it  was 
boasted,  as  the  trees  of  a  wood,  and,  besides  other  grand  buildings,  by 
the  palace  of  his  Egyptian  queen.  In  the  days  of  Christ,  the  great 
palace  of  Herod,  as  has  been  said,  occupied  the  top  of  the  hill,  behind 
where  the  citadel  now  stands;  its  magnificent  gardens,  its  broad 
wateis,  shaded  by  trees,  its  gorgeous  halls,  and  the  height  and  strength 
of  the  great  wall  which  enclosed  its  grounds,  with  the  mighty  towers 
of  Hippicus,  Mariamne,  and  Phasael^  at  its  corners,  making  the  whole 
one  of  the  glories  of  Jerusalem.  At  the  foot  of  the  slope  of  Zion,  to 
the  east,  immediately  in  front  of  the  spot  on  which  the  palace  of 
Agrippa  II.  afterwards  stood,  was  the  Xystus,  a  great  colonnade,  en- 
closing an  open  space,  used  especially  for  athletic  games  after  the 
Greek  fashion,  but  occasionally  for  public  assemblies,  while  behind  it, 
in  Christ's  day,  was  the  Council  Hall,  to  which,  as  the  place  where 
the  High  Council  sat,  St.  Paul  was  "brought  down"  from  the  Tower 
of  Antonia,  after  he  had  been  taken  prisoner  because  of  the  tumult 
about  Trophimus.*  Near  this  also,  apparently,  were  the  theatre,  built 
by  Herod  in  servile  imitation  of  Eoman  manners,  and  the  public  build- 
ings connected  with  the  official  head-quarters  of  Pilate,  though  the 
grand  palace  of  Herod,  on  the  top  of  tb'^  hill,  .was,  no  doubt,  also  used 
as  a  State  building. 

Amidst  all  this  splendor  of  public  architecture,  the  houses  of  the 
citizens,  if  we  may  judge  from  the  immemorial  characteristics  of  the 
East,  were  mean  and  wretched,  for  a  despotic  State  in  a  certain  stage 
of  civilization  can  boast  of  magnificent  temples,  palaces,  and  State 
edifices,  while  the  homes  of  the  people  are,  perhaps,  even  more 
wretched  than  in  earlier  and  simpler  times.    So  it  was  in  Nineveh, 

1  2  Chron.  xxlv.  16;  xxvl.  23.  2  Acts  li.  29.  3  Jos.  Ant.,  vii.  15,  3;  xlll.  8,  4:  Bett.  Jud.,  I.  2.  5. 
4  Rieliin,  p.  684.  5  Called  Hippicus  after  a  friend  of  Herod ;  Mariamne  after  his  favorite  wife, 
whom  he  murdered ;  Fliasaelus  after  bis  brother,  who  was  slftio  (n  tUe  fartb^^n  Wi^r,  6  A<!t9 
X](li.  90;  }(xiii.  10;  x?(i.  29, 


828 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


fCtt 


BabyloT),  and  the  ruined  cities  of  Central  America,  and  so  it  is  even  in 
Constantinople  at  this  day,  if  we  except  the  houses  of  wealthy  for- 
eigners. Nor,  perhaps,  can  Britain  say  very  much  when  she  remem- 
bers the  slums  and  alleys  of  her  cities.  But  all  the  glory  of  Zion  has 
passed  away.  "  Jehovah  hath  swallowed  up  all  the  habitations  of 
Jacob,  and  hath  not  pitied ;  He  hath  thrown  down,  in  His  wrath,  the 
strongholds  of  the  daughter  of  Judah ;  He  hath  brought  them  down 
to  the  ground.  He  hath  poured  out  His  fury  like  fire;  her  gates  are 
sunk  into  the  ground;   He  nath  destroyed  and  broken  her  bars."^ 

The  present  walls  of  Jerusalem  were  built  by  Sultan  Suleiman  in 
the  sixteenth  century,  and  give  picturesqueness,  if  not  strength,  to  the 
town.  An  inscription  over  the  Joppa  Gate,  and  others  in  various 
places,  record  that  the  order  to  rebuild  them  was  given  in  a.d.  1542 ;  ^ 
the  materials  used  being  the  remains  of  the  older  walls,  which  were 
several  times  thrown  down  and  restored  during  the  200  years  of  the 
Crusades.  The  stones  themselves  are  evidently  ancient,  and  are  all 
hewn,  and  bedded  in  mortar,  but  they  are  not  very  large.  Seen  from 
the  heights  around,  with  their  towers  and  battlements,  the  walls  look 
very  imposing,  though  their  chief  advantage  now  seems  to  be  the  broad 
walk  which  a  breastwork  inside  supplies,  enabling  one  to  look  out  on 
the  landscape  round  the  whole  city.  There  are  only  four  gates  open 
through  this  antiquated  defence,  one  on  each  side  of  the  city;  but 
there  were  formerly  four  more.  Passing  south,  through  the  road  in  a 
line  with  Christian  Street,  which  leads  to  the  Damascus  Gate  on  the 
north,  we  come  to  Zion  Gate  on  the  south.  It  is  simply  an  arch  in 
tl)e  wall,  filled  in  with  dressed  stones,  so  as  only  to  leave  space  for  a 
moderate-sized  two-leaved  door,  with  an  Arabic  inscription  over  its 
lintel.  Two  short,  narrow  slits  in  the  wall,  like  loop-holes,  with  an 
ornamental  arch  over  them,  and  a  few  rosettes  and  ornaments  of  carved 
stone  here  and  there,  are  the  only  signs  of  its  being  an  entrance  to  the 
city;  but  the  wall,  as  you  come  out,  is  seen  to  be  very  thick.  From 
within  a  dry  stone  wall  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  narrow  road,  a 
great  prickly  pear  shoots  out  its  hand-like  leaves  almost  to  the  height 
of  the  top  of  the  high  central  arch.  It  grows  at  the  edge  of  a  field, 
green,  when  I  saw  it,  with  barley  which  had  been  sown  over  the  rub- 
bish of  the  ancient  glory  of  Mount  Zion. 

On  the  left  of  the  gate,  inside  the  wall,  is  a  row  of  hovdls  given  up 
to  lepers,  who,  through  the  day,  sit  begging  outside  the  gate,  and  at 
other  parts  round  the  city.  Suffering  from  a  hopeless  disease,  and  cast 
out  from  among  men,  these  wretched  creatures  live  together,  under  a 
sheikh  who  is  himself  a  leper.  Dependent  on  charity,  they  sit  in 
groups,  apparently  cheery  enough;  and  when  someone  passes,  they, 
without  rising,  clamor  for  alms,  which  are  thrown  intp  ft  tin  dish  pq 
I  ]4m,  ii.  5, 9,    i  Ye^r  o(  t^Ue  Flight,  999, 


xxm.] 


JERUSALEM. 


829 


the  ground  before  them.  Now,  as  in  the  case  of  Job,  their  "skin  is 
broken  and  become  loathsome"*  with  putrid  ulcers.  Often,  as  with 
him,  the  sufferer  itches  all  over,  so  that  it  is  a  relief  "to  take  a  pot- 
sherd and  scrape  himself  withal."'*  Often,  again,  the  breath  corrupts, 
so  that  the  husband  becomes  "a  stranger  to  his  own  wife."^  The  dis- 
ease is  hereditary,  but  bad  nourishment  and  a  wretched  home  lead  to 
its  development,  and  possibly  in  some  cases  to  its  origin.  There  are 
two  kinds,  both  found  in  Palestine,  and  both  almost  equally  horrible. 
Some  months  before  the  outbreak  of  leprosy  the  victim  is  languid  and 
cold,  shivers  and  becomes  feverish  by  turns.  Eeddish  srjots  then 
make  their  appearance  on  the  skin,  with  dark  red  lumps  under  them, 
more  or  less  movable.  In  the  face,  particularly,  these  lumps  run  into 
one  another,  till  they  look  like  bunches  of  grapes.  The  mouth  and 
lips  swell,  the  eyes  run,  and  the  whole  body  is  often  tormented  with 
itching.  The  mucous  membrane  begins  to  corrupt,  and  lumps  form 
internally  also.  The  eyes,  throat,  tongue,  mouth,  and  ears  become 
affected.  At  last  the  swellings  burst,  turn  into  dreadful  festering  sores, 
and  heal  up  again,  but  only  to  break  out  elsewhere.  The  fingers 
become  bent,  and  the  limbs  begin  to  rot  away.  This  kind  of  leprosj 
differs  from  what  is  known  as  the  smooth  leprosy,  but  even  that  is 
sufficiently  dreadful,  as  it  produces  painful,  flat,  inflamed  patches  on 
the  skin,  which,  turn  into  revolting  sores.  Other  diseases,  moreover, 
are  brought  on  by  leprosy,  and  yet  it  is  so  slowly  fatal  that  the  sufferer 
sometimes  drags  on  his  wretched  life  for  twenty  years,  or  even  more, 
before  death  relieves  him.  The  children  of  leprous  parents  do  not 
show  the  disease,  generally,  till  they  attain  mannood  or  womanhood, 
but  then  it  is  certain  lo  break  out.  Among  the  ancient  Jews  it  was 
very  common,  yet  there  was  only  one  case  in  the  Jewish  hospital  in 
Jerusalem,  between  the  years  1856  and  1860,  of  a  Jew  suffering  from 
it.  In  early  Bible  times  it  made  the  sufferer  unclean,  so  that  he  was 
required  to  live  outside  the  camp,  while,  to  prevent  anyone  being 
defiled  by  approaching  him,  he  was  further  obliged  to  rend  his  clothes 
and  keep  his  head  bare,  and  to  put  a  covering  upon  his  upper  lip,  and 
cry,  "Unclean,  unclean!"*  It  was  in  accoiSance  with  this  that  the 
ten  men  who  were  lepers  stood  afar  off  as  Jesus  passed  by,  and  "  lifted 
up  their  voices ;"5  and  it  was  in  compliance  with  the  Levitical  law 
that  our  Lord  said  to  them,  when  cleansed,  "Go,  shew  yourselves  unto 
the  priests."  It  was  necessary  that  a  leper,  when  cured,  should  go  to 
Jerusalem,  and,  after  examination  by  a  priest,  take  part  in  a  number 
of  ceremonies,  make  certain  offerings,  and  obtain  a  written  declaration 
from  the  priests  of  his  being  healed,  before  he  could  go  back  to  free 
intercourse  with  his  fellows.* 

Under  a  respectable  government  leprosy  could  no  doubt  be  extin- 

1  Job  II.  7 ;  V II.  .6.    2  Job  11.  8.    8  Job  xlx,  17.    4  Lev.  xUi.  45.    5  Luke  xvll.  14,    6  Qelkle,  m^ 
0nd  Wmd»  of  Ckn»t,  ii.  18—16, 


880 


THE   HOLY   LAND  AND  THE   BIBLE, 


[Cbaf. 


guisbed  in  Palestine,  as  it  has  been  in  Britain  and  other  countries 
where  it  was  once  common.  But  for  ages  the  wretched  beings,  with- 
out palates,  or  with  no  hands,  or  with  swollen  and  hideous  faces,  have 
been  allowed  to  marry  and  live  together,  at  tiie  gates  of  Jerusalem, 
perpetuating  the  plague  in  their  unhappy  oftspring.  Nor  is  it  confined 
to  tne  Holy  City.  Lepers  are  found  over  the  whole  country.  Precau- 
tions are,  indeed,  taken  to  guard  the  healthy,  but  as  leprosy  is  not 
contagious,  these  are  in  reality  of  no  value.  In  Bible  times,  anyone 
thought  to  be  attacked  was  shut  up,  and  removed  outside  the  city  on 
the  disease  showing  itself;  he,  his  clothes,  his  very  house,  and  every- 
thing he  touched,  being  pronounced  unclean.  Nowadays,  he  may, 
perhaps,  be  allowed  to  live  immediately  inside  the  gates  of  Jerusalem, 
but  he  has  still  a  separate  dwelling  assigned  him,  and  everyone  keeps 
aloof  from  him  as  polluted  and  dangerous.  Nor  will  any  one  touch  a 
leper,  or  eat  with  him,  or  use  anything  he  has  handled.  Arabs  thrust 
a  leper  away  from  their  encampments. 

The  prevalence  of  leprosy  among  the  ancient  Jews  gave  a  strange 
ooior  to  the  fancies  of  the  Western  nations  of  antiquity  respecting 
them.  Tacitus  thus  gives  the  various  opinions  afloat  concerning  them, 
viz.,  that  Crete  was  their  original  home,  its  great  mountain  Ida  being 
the  source  of  their  name,  "  Judaei ;  "  that  they  were  a  colony  of  Egyp- 
tians who  emigrated,  under  the  leadership  of  Hierosolynius  and  Judali, 
through  the  pressure  of  population  on  the  Nile  ;  that  they  were  Ethi- 
opians whom  fear  and  hatred  forced  to  leave  their  country ;  that  they 
were  an  Assyrian  race,  who,  having  no  landfa,  established  themselves 
in  Egypt,  and  finally  spread  to  Syria  ;  and,  lastly,  that  they  were  the 
descendants  of  the  Solymi,  a  nation  famous  *in  Homer;  whence  the 
name  of  their  capital,  Hierosolyma.  All  this,  however,  he  owns  to  be 
doubtful.  What  is  more  generally  admitted,  he  continues,  is  that 
Egypt  being  infected  with  a  kind  of  leprosy  which  covered  the  whole 
body,  the  king,  after  consulting  the  oracle  of  Ammon  respecting  the 
means  of  removing  it,  was  ordered  to  purge  his  kingdom  of  lepers, 
who  seemed  hateful  to  the  gods,  and  to  send  them  off  to  other  lands. 
All  the  diseased,  having  therefore  been  searched  out  and  collected,  were 
left  in  the  midst  of  the  desert.  On  being  thus  abandoned,  they  gave 
way  to  despair,  except  one,  Moses,  who  urged  them  to  look  for  help 
neither  from  the  gods  nor  from  man,  since  they  were  abandoned  by 
both,  but  to  put  their  faith  in  him  as  a  Heaven-sent  leader,  promising 
that,  if  they  followed  him,  he  would  deliver  them  from  their  miseries. 
To  this  they  agreed,  and  began  their  march,  ignorant  of  the  way  or  its 
dangers.  Nothing,  however,  distressed  them  as  they  went  on  so  much 
as  the  want  of  water;  but  when  they  were  in  extremities,  sinking,  ex- 
hausted, along  the  whole  line  of  march,  a  herd  of  wild  asses  passed 
from  the  open  field  to  a  rocky  place,  hidden  by  woods,  and  Moses,  hj^y 


\ 


\ 


And  the  sons  of  strangers  shall 
build  up  thy  walls,  and  their 
kings  shall  minister  unto  thee  : 
for  in  my  wrath  I  smote  thee,  but 
in  my  favor  have  I  had  mercy 
on  thee. 

Therefore  thy  gates  sliall  be 
open  continually  ;  they  shall  not 
be  shut  day  nor  night ;  that  men 
may  bring  unto  thee  tlie  forces  of 
the  Gentiles,  and  that  their  kings 
may  be  brought. — Isa.  Ix.  10,  11, 
TBE  JOPPA  GATE  OF  JERUSALEM.    {See  pape  335.) 


' 

XXI 

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' 

xxnx.] 


JBRUSALBM. 


881 


ing  followed,  in  the  thought  that  the  richness  of  the  grass  boded  the 
nearness  of  springs,  discovered  great  fountains  of  water.  This  saved 
them,  so  that  after  a  further  continuous  march  of  six  days,  they,  on 
the  seventh,  having  defeated  the  inhabitants,  won  the  land  in  which 
are  their  city  and  Temple.* 

All  this  IS  so  curious  that  perhaps  I  may  quote  a  little  more.  To 
put  the  nation  thoroughly  under  his  control,  says  Tacitus,  Moses  gave 
them  an  entirely  new  religion,  the  opposite  of  that  of  any  other  peo- 
ple. In  it  all  is  abhorred  which  we  revere,  and  all  is  revered  which 
we  abhor.  An  image  of  the  beast  which  had  relieved  their  thirst  and 
saved  them,  was  set  up,  as  sacred,  in  their  Holy  of  Holies.  They 
sacrifice  the  ram,  as  if  in  contempt  of  the  god  Ammon  (who  was  ram- 
headed),  and  for  the  same  reason  they  offer  up  the  ox,  which  the 
Egyptians  worship  under  the  name  Apis.  They  abstain  from  pork,  in 
memory  of  the  shameful  disease  under  which  they  suffered  so  terribly: 
a  disease  to  which  the  pig  is  liable.^ 

Much  in  this  is,  of  course,  fanciful,  but  it  is  certain  that  the  Hebrews 
brought  leprosy  with  them  from  Egypt,  for  at  the  very  commence- 
ment of  their  forty  years'  wanderings,  Moses  commanded  that  every 
leper  should  be  put  out  of  the  camp,^  and  the  disease  could  not  have 
been  brought  on  in  the  wilderness.  It  had,  therefore,  no  doubt,  broken 
out  through  their  miseries  while  in  Egypt,  which  we  may  the  better 
imagine  when  we  recollect  that  Josephus  speaks  of  their  having  been 
sent  to  quarries  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  Nile,  to  cut  out  the  huge 
blocks  used  in  Egyptian  architecture.*  There,  he  tells  us,  "they  re- 
mained for  a  long  time."  Condemnation  to  the  hideous  slavery  of  this 
life  was  a  usual  punishment  under  the  Pharaohs  for  criminals  and  all 
who  gave  the  State  trouble,  the  unfortunates  being  banished  to  the 
quarries  with  their  wives  and  children,  without  regard  to  age,  even 
tneir  relatives  sometimes  sharing  their  fate."  In  later  ages,  great 
numbers  of  Christians,  many  of  them  of  prominent  social  position, 
were  thus  condemned  to  the  porphyry  quarries  between  the  Nile  and 
the  Red  Sea,  and  others  were  sent  to  those  in  the  Thebais.^  The  un- 
speakable wretchedness  of  an  existence  in^such  burning  craters  as  these 
quarries  must  have  been,  without  care,  shelter,  or  sufficient  food,  and 
with  unbroken  toil  under  the  lash,  may  well  have  lowered  the  system, 
till  leprosy  and  diseases  of  similar  origin  took  wide  hold  of  the  suf- 
ferers. 

That  leprosy  was  very  common  among  the  ancient  Jews,  is  in  any 
case  certain,  for  their  laws  are  very  full  and  stringent  with  respect  to 
'■'.,  Pud  enumerate  various  forms  of  the  •disease.'''     They  even  speak  of 

1  Tac.  Hid.,  V.  2,  8.  2  Tac.  Hist,  v.  4.  8  Num.  v.  2.  4  Jos.  Omt.  Ap..  I.  2fi.  Tacitus  appears  to 
have  used  Manetho,  from  whom  Josephus  quotes,  or  perhaps  he  quoted  from  Josephus,  who  flour 
ished  A.D.  38—97.    Tacitus  lived  a.d.  61—117.    6  Ebers,  Piirch  Qosen,  p.  IBS.    6  Evs.  Hist,  Ecclu,, 


882 


THE   HOLY   LAND  AND  THE   BIBLE. 


[Chap. 


leprosy  in  woollen  or  linen  garments,  or  in  leather,  and,  still  more 
strange,  in  houses,  but  it  seems  probable  that  these  passages  refer  to 
skin  diseases  resembling  leprosy,  and  which  are  therefore  classed  by 
Moses  with  it.  It  is  well  known  that  many  such  skin  ailments,  whicn 
to  the  untrained  eye  may  easily  be  confounded  with  leprosy,  spring 
from  microscopic  vermin,^  or  from  the  minute  sporules  of  some  kinds 
of  fungus,  and  botii  th.ese  sources  of  dire  calamity  cling  to  garments 
and  to  household  utensils,  and  even  to  the  stones  and  mortar  of  a 
house.  This  appears  to  be  the  true  explanation  of  the  Leviticnl  laws 
respecting  "leprosy  "  in  inanimate  substances,  and  they  were  clearly 
wise  and  plnlosopliical,  for  modern  science  is  no  less  concerned  tiian 
they  were  with  germs  and  their  propagation. 

A  comparatively  broad  street  leaus  first  west,  then  north,  from  Zion 
Gate  to  the  open  space  befctre  the  Tower  of  David.  On  the  south  lies 
the  ploughed  field,  over  the  wreck  of  the  past ;  on  the  west,  after 
turning  trie  corner,  you  sye  the  great  gardens  connected  with  the 
Armenian  Monastery,  which  provides  accommodation  for  several 
thousand  pilgrims.     The  church  belonging  to  this  establishment  is 

fraud  with  lamps,  carpets,  pictures,  and  gilding.  A  fine  house  for  the 
'atriarch  is  appropriately  connected  with  a  cemetery  in  which  all  his 
Eredecessora  lie  buried.  The  monastery  is  said  to  stand  on  the  site  of  the 
ouse  of  the  high  priest  Caiaphas,  and,  in  keeping  with  this  veracious 
tradition,  the  stone  which  closed  the  Holy  Sepulchre  is  shown  under  the 
church  altar,  and  the  e\  3ts  pointed  out  where  Christ  was  in  prison, 
where  Peter  denied  Him,  and  where  the  cock  was  perched  when  it 
crew,  though  the  surface  of  the  Jerusalem  of  Christ  s  day,  as  I  hava 
mentioned,  lies  buried  beneath  some  thirty  feet  of  rubbish.  It  is 
pleasant  to  look  away  from  these  monkish  stupidities  to  the  glorious 
gardens,  the  fairest  in  Jerusalem,  .with  their  tall  poplars  and  many 
other  kinds  of  trees  waving  above  the  city  walls. 

Just  before  reaching  the  open  space  at  David's  Tower,  a  short  way 
from  the  street,  on  the  right,  is  tlie  English  Protestant  Church,  for  the 
English-speaking  population,  which  mainly  consists  of  visitor?..  It  is 
only  within  a  few  decades  that  Evangelical  religion  has  obtained  such 
a  permanent  footing  in  the  Holy  City,  but  since  it  has  become  natural- 
ized, if  I  may  so  speak,  it  has  attracted  a  steadily-growing  interest  in 
the  country.  The  time  is  past  when  a  devout  soul  like  Luther  could 
think  that  God  cares  just  as  much  for  the  cows  of  Switzerland  as  for 
the  Holy  Grave  which  lay  in  the  hands  of  the  Saracens.,  The  great 
importance  to  the  intelligent  study  of  the  Bible  of  a  closer  acquaintance 
with  Palestine  is  universally  recognized,  and  the  land  of  Holy  Scppture 
has  been  felt  to  have  claims  on  the  loving  interest  of  all  Christians,  as 
that  from  which  th©  sftlvatioj,'  of  the  WOrW  W^Rt  forth,  The  Jewish 
I  Acwit 


xxm.i 


JlClttTSALSM. 


888 


MiBsion,  of  whiob  I  have  already  spoken,  was  the  firuit  of  thii  newly- 
awakened  enthuiiasm,  though  ezperienoe  seems  to  show  that  Jerusalem 
is  precisely  the  most  unfavorable  sphere  for  its  success.  But  preaching 
to  the  Jews  is  not  the  only  form  or  local  Christian  activity.  As  it  was 
desirable  to  raise  the  spiritual  condition  of  native  Christians  generally, 
by  a  diffusion  of  simple  Evangelical  truth,  Prussia  and  England  in 
conjunction,  at  the  suggestion  ot  King  Frederick  William  IV.,  founded 
a  bisjjopric,  to  give  Protestantism  a  more  imposing  representation  in 
Jerusalem.  The  present  church  also  was,  after  a  time,  built  chiefly 
with  English  money,  and  Prussian  and  English  Consulates  were  estab- 
lislied,  giving  additional  weight  to  the  Reformed  creed.  Hospitals  for 
Jews,  and  also  for  all  nationalities,  without  distinction,  have  been 
founded  and  are  in  active  operation,  showing,  perhaps  more  strongly 
than  any  thing  else  could,  how  true  and  deep  is  the  interest  Evan- 
gelical religion  takes  in  all  human  sorrows.  A  child's  hospital  has 
been  established  by  Dr.  Sandreckski,  an  accomplished  Prussian,  and  is 
maintained  at  his  own  risk,  the  subscriptions  towards  it  being  often 
deficient.  I  visited  it  and  the  English  hospitals,  and  can  honestly 
praise  them  both,  though  I  confess  that  my  heart  went  out  most 
tenderly  to  that  for  children,  which  was  filled  when  I  went  through  it. 
The  Germans  also  have  a  hospital  for  themselves,  admirably  managed. 
Evangelical  missions  of  other  kinds  are  not  wanting,  and  it  ia  only 
right  to  say  they  could  in  no  place  be  more  needed. 

If  the  rigorous  observance  of  religious  forms,  including  prayer  and 
the  worship  of  God,  were  enough,  Jerusalem  might  be  pronounced,  in 
fact  as  in  name,  the  Holy  City.  It  is  the  same  with  the  Jew  of  to-day 
as  with  his  ancestors,  who  wearied  themselves  with  offerings  and  other 
external  observances,  but  were  so  corrupt  and  morally  worthless  as  to 
rouse  the  bitterest  reproaches  of  the  prophets.  "  Rend  your  hearts, 
and  not  your  garments,"  cried  Joel,  "and  turn  unto  the  Lord  your 
God."  ^  "  The  sacrifices  of  God  are  a  broken  spirit,"  sang  the  Psalmist.^ 
Such  prophet  voices  are  no  less  needed  in  Jerusalem  now.  Conscience 
seems  asleep;  the  moral  sense  dead.  That  it  is  possible  to  trade 
without  lying  and  fraud  is  as  monstrous  an  idea  to  the  Oriental  to-day 
as  it  was  when  Jesus  the  Son  of  Sirach  wrote,  "  As  a  nail  sticketh  fast 
between  the  joinings  of  the  stones,  so  doth  sin  stick  close  between 
buying  and  selling."*  The  first  consideration  of  the  vendor  is  the 
extent  to  which  he  may  presume  on  the  simplicity  of  his  customer, 
and  so  skilled  in  trickery  are  all  traders  alike— Moslems,  Christians, 
and  Jews — that  the  webs  of  lies  they  spin,  and  the  depth  of  their 
wretched  cunning,  are  entirely  beyond  the  conceptions  of  the  Western 
world.  Indeed,  they  even  boast  of  their  cleverness  in  lying.  Nor  is 
this  the  only  great  sin  infecting  the  community,  and  oondoned  by  tho 

1  Joel  U.  18.  a  PR.  U.  17.  8.BMlai.uTU.& 


S84 


tafi  fiOLY  LAl^D  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


tOukf. 


corruptness  of  local  public  opinion;  meanness,  pettiness,  and  baseness 
are  so  common  that  it  must  be  very  hard  to  walk  uprightly  and 
without  hypocrisy  in  Jerusalem. 

It  is  to  the  lasting  honor  of  Bishop  Gobat  that  he  saw  the  necessity 
of  religious  education,  to  raise  the  moral  tone  of  the  Christian  popula- 
tion. His  school-house,  a  stately  building,  stands  immediately  above 
the  steep  descent  of  Mount  Zion.  It  was  founded  in  1858,  and,  when  I 
visited  it,  had  forty-five  boys  and  thirteen  youths,  who  might  be 
called  students,  but  no  day  scholars.  This  is  a  much  smaller  attendance 
than  at  the  American  college  at  Beyrout,  but  perhaps  the  locality  is 
less  favorable.  There  is,  besides,  a  school  for  girls  in  the  city,  with 
seventy  on  the  books  when  I  was  in  Jerusalem ;  this  is  a  day  school. 
The  Germans  also  have  training  schools.  To  the  east  of  Bishop  Gobat's 
school  lies  a  pleasant  garden,  divided  by  a  wall  from  the  English 
burial-ground.  In  laying  out  this,  vast  masses  of  rubbish  had  to  be 
removed,  and  a  broad  terrace  was  thus  laid  bare,  cut  oft*  on  the  north  from 
the  higher  rock  by  a  perpendicular  escarpment.  Fragments  of  the  old 
wall  or  the  city  still  remained  on  the  top  of  this  escarpment  when  it 
was  first  uncovered,  and  a  number  of  hewn  stones  lay  around.  There 
are,  moreover,  remains  of  a  rock-hewn  stair,  and,  as  I  have  said,  a 
number  of  rock-hewn  cisterns,  with  a  round  hole  in  the  covering 
through  which  the  old  Jebusites  once  drew  up  water.  The  stair 
without  question  formed  a  comparatively  secret  way  from  the  city 
walls  to  the  bottom  of  the  valley. 

The  streets  of  Jerusalem,  like  those  of  all  Oriental  cities  or  towns, 
are  left  at  night  in  total  darkness,  except  where  a  feeble  lamp,  hung 
out  by  a  kindly  householder,  sheds  a  glimmer  for  a  few  yards.  Nor  is 
there  any  cheering  light  from  the  houses  themselves,  for  there  are  no 
windows  except  high  up,  and  the  thick  lattice  shuts  in  an^  iceble  beam 
there  may  be  in  a  few  nigher  chambers.  No  one,  therefore,  can  move 
about  without  a  lantern,  since  to  do  so  would  insure  a  speedy  fall  over 
the  rough  stones,  or  headlong  precipitation  into  some  gulf;  not  to  speak 
of  dangers  from  the  town  dogs,  and  the  nameless  filth  of  the  side 
streets.  It  is,  therefore,  obligatory  to  carry  one's  own  light,  and  any- 
one found  abroad  without  a  lantern  after  nine  o'clock  is  at  once  stopped 
by  the  turbaned  curiosities  who  do  duty  as  watchmen. 

'  The  population  of  Jerusalem  is  about  80,000,  who  are  divided  and 
subdivided  into  no  fewer  than  twenty-four  distinct  religious  parties, 
more  than  half  of  which  are  Christian;  the  whole  showing  anything 
rather  than  brotherly  love  to  each  other.  It  has  often  been  a  question 
how  the  vast  multitudes  who  in  ancient  times  thronged  to  the  Pass- 
over, found  room  in  a  place  which  the  configuration  of  the  ground  pre- 
vented from  ever  being  much  larger  than  it  is  now;  but  we  have,  at 
least,  a  slight  help  towards  understanding  the  possibilities  of  an  East- 


a 


pre- 
e,  at 


XXIV.I 


ROUND  JERUSALEM. 


885 


em  town  in  this  respect,  in  the  sights  presented  at  Jerusalem  each 
Easter.  Thousands  of  pilgrims  of  all  the  Oriental  Christian  national- 
ities are  then  in  the  city,  and  at  the  same  time  vast  multitudes  of 
Mahommedans  arrive  from  every  Moslem  country,  and  even  from  India, 
to  pray  withiu  the  sacred  enclosure  on  Mount  Moriah ;  the  object  of 
the  institution  of  this  counter-pilgrimage,  if  one  may  call  it  so,  having 
been,  apparently,  to  secure  the  presence  in  the  Holy  City  of  a  great 
body  of  "true  oelievers"  when  the  Christians  were  assembled  in  force. 
At  these  times  every  khan,  convent,  and  lodging-house  is  crowded, 
tents  are  pitched  outside  the  walls,  and  all  available  spots  within  the 
city  are  used  for  sleeping-places  by  the  poorer  pilgrims,  who  cook  their 
simple  food  in  the  open  air,  and  lie  through  the  night  in  the  streets. 
The  open  space  before  the  Tower  of  David  is  a  favorite  spot  for  this 
bivouac ;  men,  women,  and  children  cowering  as  closely  as  'they  can 
on  its  rough  stones.  It  must  have  been  the  same  in  ancient  Jerusalem, 
but  there  was  the  great  additional  aid  that  every  family  opened  its 
rooms,  and  even  its  roofs,  to  pilgrims;  inns  being  then  unknown. 
Besides,  a  convenient  fiction  of  the  Eabbis  extended  the  sacred  limits 
of  Jerusalem,  during  the  feasts,  as  far  as  Bethany,  so  that  the  thous- 
ands who  could  find  no  space  inside  the  walls  had  ample  room  without 
them. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 


,.  ROUND  JERUSALEM. 

'L'hb  Joppa  Gate  lay  nearest  to  my  hotel,  and  was,  hence,  that  by 
vviiich  I  commonly  passed  outside  the  walls.  The  Valley  of  Hinnom 
sank,  at  first,  very  gradually,  to  the  south-east.  About  500  yards  to 
tlie  west,  upon  rising  ground  at  the  side  of  the  road  to  Gaza,  was  the 
leper  hospital;  on  the  left,  from  its  deep,  broad  ditch,  rose  a  mass  of 
huge  walls  and  low  towers,  forming  the  citadel,  over  which  floated  the 
Turkish  flag.  A  minaret  towered  up  proudly  beyond,  while  from  the 
gardens  inside  the  crenelated  rampart  rose  some  olive-trees,  and  the 
outside  sloping  walls  of  the  Titanic  base  were  feathered  everywhere 
with  the  creeping  plants  which  in  Palestine  take  the  place  of  our  ivy. 
The  whole  constituted  a  grim,  forbidding  Bastille,  with  memories  red 
with  blood.  A  broad,  bare  space  west  of  it,  looking  dov/n  the  valley, 
is  a  favorite  spot  for  the  tents  of  travellers.  Clumps  of  ancient  olive- 
trees,  growing  on  the  open  slopes,  dot  the  gradual  descent,  and  are  in 
great  favor  with  camel-arivers  for  their  shade,  in  which  the  beasts  can 


836 


THE   HOLY   LAND   AND  THE   BIBLE. 


[CHAP. 


rest,  and  they  themselves  eat  their  simple  meals.     As  we  descend  the 
>^-'"  the  east  side,  which  is  Mount  Zion,  sinks,  almost  at  once,  quite 


vailt- 


-i ' 


fi 


steeply,  while  on  the  west  the  slope  is  gentle.  The  prevailing  color 
of  the  barren  hills  is  yellow,  but  the  young  springgreen  of  some  sma'l 
fields  down  the  valley,  and  a  sprinkling  of  olive-trees  on  the  west,  any 
the  daik  foliage  of  the  poplars  rising  from  the  Armenian  gardens,  over 
the  weather-worn  city  wall,  soften  the  wildness  of  the  view.  Yet,  as 
Strabo  said  in  the  generation  before  Christ,  Jerusalem  is  very  stony, 
and  the  environs  are  both  barren  and  parclied.i  The  road  was 
enlivened  with  travellers  of  all  nations — Arabs  and  their  camels ;  asses 
with  everv  possible  form  of  load;  turbaned  pedestrians;  veiled  women, 
and  pilgrims  of  both  sexes,  coming  back  to  Jerusalem,  or  setting  out 
from  it.  How  much  men  freely  undergo  in  the  hope  of  earning 
heaven,  so  long  as  the  self-denial  leaves  their  inner  lives  untouched  I 
There  were  almos-.  as  manj'  women  as  men  among  these  far-travelled 
visitors  to  the  holy  shrines;  but  while  all  had  expended  so  much 
"bodily  exercise  which  protiteth  little"  in  honor  of  their  religion,  how 
many  worshipped  in  spirit  and  in  truti),  having  begun  by  purifying  the 

temple  of  the  soul?     A  good  many,  let  us  hope,  but  yet !     Lepers 

sat  at  the  roadside  begging,  with  their  tin  dishes  before  them  for  alms; 
some  very  far  gone  in  their  malady ;  others  apparently  as  yet  untouched 
by  it,  though  certaii!  after  a  time  to  be  as  borely  afflicted  as  the  rest. 
Well  might  one  piiy  them. 

Passing  downwards  under  the  proud  tv>wers  and  walls  of  the  citadel, 
one  reaches  a  path  leading  to  the  top  of  Mount  Zion  by  a  steep  ascent. 
The  summit  is  flat,  or  at  most  gently  undulating,  between  the  city  wall 
and  the  steep  side  of  the  hill,  and,  as  I  have  before  said,  is  in  some 
places  turned  into  small  fields,  protected  by  old  walls  of  dry  stone. 
Most  of  the  surface,  however,  is  used  as  the  Christian  cemetery,  dif- 
ferent strips  being  set  apart  for  Latins,  Greeks  Armenians,  and  foreign- 
ers, who  sleep  peacefully  under  the  rubbish  o.C  the  ancient  Jerusalem. 
The  English  Protestant  cemetery  is  distinct  from  this;  the  former 
opens  from  the  ground  of  Bishop  Gobat's  schools,  and  is  sacred,  already, 
with  the  rust  of  r.ot  a  few  of  our  countrymen.  Some  women  were 
sitting  beside  a  new  grave  in  the  larger  burial-ground,  weeping  loudly 
and  almost  convulsively,  so  that  one  vould  have  supposed  them  over- 
whelmed with  sorrow  for  the  loss  of  a  dear  friend  or  relation.  But  it 
appeared  that  all  this  to-do  was  only  professional  acting,  duly  hired  for 
so  much  coin,  and  meant  no  more  than  the  groans  and  weeping  of  so 
many  stage  damsels  in  a  theatre.  It  seems  strange  that  such  simulated 
grief  should  find  a  market,  but  is  it  much  more  unreal  ihan  the  palls, 
bands,  feathers,  and  other  hideous  fripperies  which  our  undertakers 
furnish  at  a  fixed  scale  of  prices?     At  any  rate  it  is  very  old.     Wail- 

1  strabo,  Geog.,  p.  880,  ed.  157C. 


was 


ly 


s«*iii?^. ;• .:  • 


Lower  part  of  the  Valley  of  Hianom.    (To  the  right  the  Village  of  Silou.)    (See  page  339.) 


XXIV.l 


ROUND  JERUSALEM. 


337 


ing  women  are  the  counterpart,  in  the  primitive  E:*st,  of  our  funeral 
music  for  the  rich,  or  great,  or  good,  and  tlieir  office  is  to  express  the 
deep  emotion  of  the  survivors.  The  hired  mourners  raise  their  shrieks 
in  the  house  of  death,  in  the  funeral  procession,  and  at  the  grave,  to 
which  they  come  for  seven  successive  mornings  .o  renew  their  lamen- 
tations. One  begins  and  the  others  join,  with  skilled  dexterity  of 
words,  tones,  and  attitudes.  Thus  it  was  in  the  house  of  Jairus,  when 
his  little  daughter  lay  dead,i  and  thus  it  was  when  "great  lamentation" 
was  made  over  St.  Stephen,^  and  in  all  other  cases  where  grief  for  the 
dead  is  mentioned  in  Scripture.* 

The  most  touching  feature  in  burials  in  the  East  is  the  quickness 
with  which  they  follow  death.  As  dissolution  approaches,  a  sick- 
chamber  is  still  thronged,  as  it  was  in  the  troubled  home  of  Jairus, 
with  a  crowd  of  neighbors  and  friends,  all  frantic  with  grief.  Mr.  Mills* 
mentions  one  case  of  a  poor  dying  woman  whom  he  visited.  Her 
brother  supported  her,  and  the  rest  pressed  round,  raising  their  hands 
and  bursting  out  into  agonizing  shrieks;  the  noise  and  the  crowd 
being  themselves  enough  to  kill  her.  Indeed,  she  died  in  the  midst  of 
the  tumult,  just  perhaps  as  the  daughter  of  Jairus  did.  She  breathed 
her  last  about  eleven  in  the  morning,  and  her  funeral  took  place  at 
three  the  same  afternoon.  The  friends  assembled  at  that  hour  and 
bore  away  the  body,  which  was  simply  shrouded  in  white  calico,  with- 
out any  coffin,  and  laid  on  a  bier  much  like  our  own,  except  that  it 
had  a  high  border  round  it  to  prevent  the  corpse  from  being  shaken 
off.  The  women  took  the  foremost  place  in  the  funeral  procession, 
but  in  this  case  there  were  no  hired  mourners,  as  there  are  in  Mahom- 
raedan  funerals,  for  the  deceased  was  a  Christian,  and  the  real  sorrow 
of  those  who  attended  her  to  the  grave  needed  no  art  to  deepen  the 
sadness  of  the  cries  which  broke  continually  from  them.  The  grave 
was  dug  without  any  shovel  or  other  tool,  simply  by  hand,  with  the  aid 
of  a  chance  stone.  As  the  corpse  lay  awaiting  interment,  it  was  still 
quite  warm,  but  a  doctor,  sent  for  by  Mr.  Mills,  pronounced  life  extinct. 
The  grave  was  only  about  two  feet  deep,  with  a  layer  of  stones  on  the 
bottom  and  at  the  sides,  barely  leaving  room  enough  to  cover  the  body, 
When  it  had  been  laid  in  its  shallow  bed,  large  stones  were  put  across, 
resting  on  those  at  the  sides,  so  as  to  make  a  kind  of  coffin-Hd,  to  pro- 
tect the  dead  from  the  small  stones  and  earth,  which  were  gathered 
with  hands  and  feet  into  a  low  mound  over  her  form.  She  had  been 
full  of  mirth  the  evening  before,  but  now !  The  females,  to  the  num- 
ber of  a  dozen  or  more,  remained  all  night  at  the  dead  woman's  house, 
almost  continually  lifting  up  their  voices  in  mournful  lamentations, 
and  early  next  morning  went  out  to  the  grave,  to  sit  there  and  weep, 
as  the  Jews  supposed  Mary  had  done  in  the  case  of  Lazarus.  *  This 
1  Matt.  Ix.  U ;  Mark  v.  3S.  2  Acts  Till.  2.   S  Se  eunte.,  p.  177.  4  Mills,  IftMiUt  p.  168.  6  John  zi.  31* 

22 


838 


THE   HOLY   LAND  AND  THE   BIBLE. 


[Graf. 


tliey  continued  to  do  for  nine  successive  days.  In  the  evening  of  the 
burial-day  food  was  prepared  by  neighbors  and  consumed  in  a  funeral 
meal  by  the  afflicted  household,  who  ate  together.  This  is  the  coun- 
terpart to  the  "cup  of  consolation  "  which  Jeremiah  speaks  of,  as  given 
to  comfort  mourners  for  the  loss  of  their  father  or  mother,^  and  to  the 
"bread  of  men"  which  Ezekiel  was  forbidden  to  eat  when  his  wife 
died.2 

Near  the  cemetery  is  an  old  Christian  church,  the  successes  of  one 
which  stood  on  Mount  Zion  before  the  erection  of  the  Church  of  the 
Sepulchre ;  that  is,  at  least  as  early  as  300  years  after  Christ's  birth. 
In  the  times  of  the  Crusaders  apparently  it  was  rebuilt,  but  in  its 
present  form  it  dates  only  from  a.d.  1333,  when  it  had  come  into  the 
hands  of  the  Franciscans.  For  300  years  back,  however,  the  Mahom- 
medans  have  taken  it  into  their  possession,  and  they  guard  what  they 
think  its  more  sacred  parts  with  almost  greater  jealousy  than  they 
show  about  the  Mosque  of  Omar.  The  Tomb  of  David  was  one  of  the 
holy  places  in  the  church  as  long  ago  as  the  reign  of  the  Frankish 
kings,  and  it  is  still  claimed  as  a  glory  of  the  spot  by  its  present  cus- 
todians, who  say  it  is  underground,  and  let  no  unbeliever  see  it.  Prob- 
ably there  are  ancient  tombs  below  the  present  surface,  but  this  is  not 
apparently  the  place  to  look  for  tlie  tomb  of  the  Psalmist-king.  A 
long,  bare  room,  up  a  flight  of  steps  in  the  building,  is  however  open, 
ou  payment  of  a  small  fee ;  its  attraction  being  the  tradition  that  here 
Christ  ate  the  Last  Supper  with  His  disciples.  But  the  Jerusalem  of 
Christ's  day,  I  need  hardly  repeat,  is  buried  below  thirty  feet  of 
rubbish. 

From  the  edge  of  the  hill  there  is  a  fine  view  of  the  Sultan's  Pool, 
known  as  the  traditional  Lower  Pool  of  Gihon — a  huge  reservoir,  245 
feet  broad  at  its  upper,  and  275  feet  at  its  lower  end ;  592  feet  long, 
and  about  forty  feet  deep.  It  has  been  made  by  building  great  dams 
across  the  valley,  but  they  are  of  very  little  use,  as  there  was  no  water 
in  the  pool  when  I  saw  it,  though  it  had  rained  only  a  day  or  two 
before.  The  camels  and  other  beasts  of  burden,  however,  were  the 
better  for  the  showers,  for  the  bottom  was  covered  with  delicious  fresh 
green,  on  which  some  were  feasting  as  I  passed.  To  get  down  from 
the  cemetery,  I  had  followed  the  line  of  some  low  and  rough  stone 
walls  dividing  the  hill-side  into  dift'erent  properties,  but  it  was  by  no 
means  a  pleasant  descent,  so  steep  was  the  slope  of  about  100  feet.  In 
summer  the  bottom  of  the  pool  is  in  great  request  as  a  threshing-floor, 
for  which  it  is  admirably  fitted  when  the  heat  has  withered  up  the 
grass  which,  in  spring,  covers  its  rocky  surface.  The  pool  has, been 
made  by  removing  the  earth  between  the  lower  and  upper  dams,  across 
the  valley,  leaving  the  rock  in  its  natural  state  so  that  it  slopes  down 

1  Jer.  xvl.  7.   2  Ezek.  xxlv.  17 ;  2  Sam.  iii.  35 ;  xii.  20. 


VoUey  of  Hinnom.   (Ancient  Graves  to  the  left,  OUve  Trees  to  the  BlgW.)  (See  page  840.) 


XXIV.J 


ROUND  JERUSALEM. 


889 


irregularly  at  the  siaes,  with  a  narrow  channel  in  the  middle.  A  road 
crosses  the  dam  at  the  lower  end,  the  side  walls  of  which  are  very 
much  broken.  In  the  centre  there  is  a  fountain — once  fed  by  the 
aqueduct  from  Solomon's  Pools  near  Bethlehem,  which  crosses  the 
valley  immediately  above  the  upper  end  of  the  pool.  The  pool  itself 
lies  so  low  that  it  could  only  have  been  used  to  irrigate  garaens  lower 
down  the  valley,  though,  when  water-tight,  it  must  have  spread  fertility 
far  and  wide,  as  it  would  contain  about  19,000,000  gallons.  The  dam 
at  the  upper  end  is  only  slight.  The  present  name  of  this  huge  reser- 
voir is  due  to  its  having  been  repaired  by  Sultan  Suleiman,  but  the 
excavation  id  very  ancient,  Kobinson  supposing  it  to  be  the  Lower 
Pool  mentioned  by  Isaiah.  Nine  small  arches,  spanning  the  valley, 
preserve  the  memory  of  the  aqueduct  which  once  poured  its  clear 
waters  into  the  great  cisterns  on  Mount  Moriah :  an  incalculable  bene 
lit  to  a  city  so  naturally  deficient  in  its  water-supply.  It  was  to  repair 
this  artery  of  the  common  life  that  Pilate  took  funds  from  the  Temple 
treasury,  and  thereby  roused  the  fury  of  the  priests  at  what  they  were 
bold  enough  to  denounce  to  the  ignorant  multitude  as  a  robbery  of  the 
Church.  As  if  the  gold  lying  idle  in  the  Temple  vaults  could  have 
been  better  used  1  Under  the  Turks,  who  do  nothing  for  the  good  of 
any  country  unfortunate  enough  to  be  under  them,  and  leave  every- 
thing to  go  to  destruction,  this  monument  of  the  wise  beneficence  of 
antiquity  is  of  no  benefit  to  Jerusalem. 

On  the  western  side  of  the  pool  stands  a  row  of  fine  almshouses, 
built  within  the  last  few  years  for  poor  Jews  by  their  rich  brethren  in 
the  West.  A  garden  stretches  out  before  them,  but  the  soil  is  very 
rocky,  and  requires  much  labor  for  small  results.  On  the  brow  of  the 
slope  over  the  houses,  and  belonging  to  the  same  charity,  a  stone  wind- 
mill breaks  the  monotony  of  the  view  by  its  great,  slow-circling  vans. 

South  of  the  Sultan's  Pool  the  valley  leads  to  the  east  and  becomes 
very  narrow,  steep  rocks  forming  its  wall  on  the  under  side,  while  on 
the  upper  side  Mount  Zion  descends  in  steps  like  terraces,  but  very 
steeply.  Olive  and  almond  trees  cast  their  soft  shadows  over  the  ris- 
ing green  of  the  little  stony  fields  in  the  hollow  and  on  the  rocky  sides 
of  the  hills,  while  on  the  east  the  walls  of  Jerusalem  look  down  into 
the  ravine.  The  whole  scene  is  beautiful  in  *  Jo  quiet  repose.  Yet  it 
was  in  this  narrow  valley,  now  filled  with  budding  fruit-trees  and 
springing  grain  and  sweet  flowers,  that  the  Israelites  once  offered  their 
children  to  Moloch,  and  these  very  rocks  on  each  side  have  echoed  the 
screams  of  the  innocent  victims,  and  reverberated  with  the  chants  and 
drums  of  the  priests,  raised  to  drown  the  cries  of  agony.  It  is  well 
called  the  Valley  of  Hinnom — "  the  Valley  of  the  Groans  of  Chil- 
dren: "^  a  name  which  perpetuates  the  horror  once  excited  by  the 
1  OST)  'p ';  (2  Kings  zxilL  10.)  StrloUy, "  of  fhe  Children  ol  Oroanlng." 


840 


THE   HOLY   LAND   AND  THE    BIBLE. 


friiAP. 


scenes  it  witnessed;  especially,  it  would  seem,  in  this  lower  part 
Here,  under  Ahaz,  Manasseh,  and  Amon,  the  hideous  ox-headed  human 
figure  of  Moloch — the  summer  sun  in  his  glowing  and  withering  might 
— was  raised  in  brass  or  copper,  with  extended  arms,  on  which  were 
laid,  helplessly  bound,  tiio  children  given  up  by  their  parents  "to  pass 
through  the  fire"  to  him ;  a  heated  furnace  behind  the  idol  sending  its 
flames  through  the  hollow  limbs,  till  the  innocents  writhed  oft' into  a 
burning  firo  beneath.  Aha5i  and  Manasseh  had  set  a  royal  example  in 
this  horrible  travesty  of  worship,  by  bun.!ng  alive  some  of  their  own 
ohildroi ;  ^  and  what  kings  did,  commoners  would  be  ready  to  (!opy. 
Yet  who  can  tell  the  agony  of  soul  it  must  have  cost  a  father  or 
mother,  among  a  race  where  sons  were  so  great  a  glory,  to  give  up  one 
to  such  a  death,  us  a  religious  act?  How  many  among  ourselves 
would  be  capable  of  a  tribute  of  devotion  to  the  true  God  fit  to  be  men- 
tioned alongside  of  this,  as  a  surrender  to  Him  of  all  that  the  heart 
loves  best  ? 

It  was  not  till  within  less  than  thirty  years  of  the  destruction  of 
Jerusalem  by  the  Chaldseans,  that  the  idol  and  its  accessories  were 
swept  away  from  the  valley  hy/  the  good  Josiah,^  and  the  place  so 
defiled  that  it  could  never  again  be  desecrated  by  tliis  frightful  wor- 
ship. But  so  deeply  had  the  horrors  of  the  past  printed  themselves 
on  the  popular  mind,  that  henceforth  the  spot  bore  the  name  of  Tophet 
— "the  Abomination" — "the  Place  to  be  Spat  upon;"  and  in  later 
times  the  very  words  Ge-Hinnom — "the  "Valley  of  Hinnom" — sliglitly 
changed  into  Gehenna,  became  the  common  name  for  hell.  The 
destruction  of  Assyria  is  pictured  bv  Isaiah  as  a  huge  funeral  pile, 
"deep  and  large,"  with  "much  wood,"  " prepared  for  the  king,"  and 
kindled  by  tiie  breath  of  Jehovah,  as  if  by  "a  stream  of  brimstone."  ' 
Jeremiah  speaks  of  "high  places"  in  this  valley,  as  if  children  had 
been  burned  on  different  altars;  and  he  can  think  of  no  more  vivid 
image  of  the  curse  impending  over  Jerusalem  than  that  it  should 
become  an  abomination  before  God,  like  this  accursed  place. 

The  Hill  of  Evil  Counsel  rises  on  the  south  from  the  Valley  of 
Hinnom ;  it  owes  its  name  to  a  tradition  that  the  house  of  the  nigh 
priest  Caiaphas,  in  which  the  leaders  of  the  Jews  resolved  on  the 
death  of  our  Lord,  stood  there.  Beneath  it  the  steep  rocky  sides  of 
the  valley  are  pierced  with  a  great  number  of  tombs,  showing  that 
this  spot  was  used  by  the  Jews  in  ancient  times  as  a  cemetery.*  Some 
of  these  sepulchres  are  cut  into  domes  in  the  rock  and  ornamented, 
others  are  mere  holes  for  bodies,  hewn  in  the  face  of  the  hill ;  some 
have  many  such  holes  dug  out  in  the  sides  of  a  larger  or  smaller  cham- 
ber, most  of  the  entrances  to  these  appearing  to  have  been  closed  by  a 

1  2  Kings  xvi.  3:  xxi.  6.     2  2  Kings  xxiii.  10;  Isa.  xxx.  33;  Jer.  v)i.  31 :  xlz.  6,  U,  12, 18.    8  l8«. 
xxx.  83.  4  Some  tbinlc  tlie  toinl>9  Cliristiao. 


XXIV.J 


ROUND  JERUSALEM. 


841 


: 


; 


stoiio  door,  turning  on  a  socket  hinae,  arid  secured  by  bolts.  Wander- 
ing amidst  these  graves,  once  full,  but  now  long  enn)ty,  one  feels  liini- 
self  surrounded  by  a  city  of  the  dead,  tiie  beginnings  of  which  run 
back  to  the  grey  antiquity  of  the  early  Jewish  Icings.  Close  at  hand, 
but  a  little  higher  up  tlie  valley,  is  a  spot  with  the  evil  name  of  Acel- 
dama— "  the  Field  of  Blood,"  *  on  which  rises  an  old  ruin  thirty  feet 
long  and  twenty  wide,  one  side  partly  the  naked  rock,  the  other  dratled 
stone,  the  whole  forming  a  flat-roofed  cover  to  a  dismal  house  of  tlie 
dead.  Two  caverns  open  in  the  floor,  their  rocky  sides  pierced  with 
holes  for  bodies ;  and  galleries  of  tombs  run  into  the  hill  from  the 
bottom.  Holes  in  the  roof  are  still  seen,  through  which  tlie  corpses 
were  let  down  by  ropes,  and  there  are  marks  of  steps  by  which  the 
tombs  were  entered.  Here,  say  the  local  traditions,  was  "the  Pot- 
ters' Field,"  bought  for  the  burial  of  strangers  by  the  high  priests  with 
the  thirty  pieces  of  silver  for  which  our  Saviour  was  betrayed.  Clay 
from  around  it  is  still  used  by  the  potters  of  Jerusalem. 

About  a  hundred  steps  from  Aceldama,  Hinnom  merges  into  another 
valley  running  along  the  south  side  of  the  city.  Wliere  the  two  thus 
join,  the  Tyropoeon  or  Cheese-makers'  Valley,  from  between  Mounts 
Moriah  and  Zion,  also  opened  out,  in  ancient  times,  on  the  north  side 
before  it  was  filled  up  by  the  wreck  of  the  city  and  Temple.  In  those 
days  both  it  and  the  Valley  of  Hinnom  girdled  Mount  Zion  from  the 
west  to  the  south-east,  where  the  hill  descends  in  huge  steps,  here  and 
there  rocky ;  the  steps  plentifully  strewn  with  stone,  and  pitted  with 
cisterns  and  small  caves,  in  which  the  goats  sleep  at  night,  but 
veiled  in  part  bv  olive,  almond,  and  pomegranate  trees.  In  David's 
time  Zion  was  surrounded  by  a  wall,  forming  the  original  city ;  but 
under  Solomon,  Moriah  was  encircled  by  a  second  wall,  and  ultimately 
the  Tyropoeon  was  incorporated  with  the  two,  by  a  rampart  across  the 
mouth  of  the  valley  to  Ophel,  tlie  south-east  spur  of  Moriah,  which 
sinks  down  from  the  height  of  the  great  Temple  wall  in  several  broad 
shelves  and  steep  slopes,  the  last  of  which  is  not  more  than  forty  feet 
above  the  bottom  of  the  valley.  Rough,  stony,  and  swift  in  its 
descents,  the  surface  is,  however,  diligently  cultivated  wherever  pos- 
eible— of  course  in  a  rude  Oriental  way.  On  the  lower  of  these  slopes 
and  terraces  the  Nethinim,  or  Temple  slaves,  lived  in  olden  times,^ 
while  on  those  higher  up  and  nearer  the  Temple  were  some  of  the 
houses  of  the  priests.*  The  fortifications  enclosing  Ophel  had  grown 
old  in  the  days  of  Jotham  and  Manasseh,  and  were  consequently 
repaired,  heightened,  and  strengthened  by  them,*  while  they  were 
rebuilt  by  Ezra  and  Nehemiah  afler  the  return  from  Babylon,  a  lofty 
watch-tower  being  added,^  the  foundations  of  which,  projecting  from 


1  Acta  1. 19. 
2&-27. 


Neb.  ill.  26;  xl.  21.    3  Neh.  lU.  21—26.    4  2 Chron.  xxvii.  3;  xxxili.  14.    5  Neh  Hi. 


m 


THE   HOLY   LAND  AND  THE  BIBIJS. 


(CHAP. 


t;he  main  line  of  defence,  have  been  discovered  by  the  Palestine  Fund 
^xplorers.i  Shafts  sunk  near  these  show  how  stupendous  the  labor 
spent  by  the  Hebrew  kings  on  fortifying  Jerusalem  must  have  been, 
for  the  wall  is  yet  standing  to  the  height  of  sixty-six  feet  below  the 
rubbish  of  ages,  and  the  face  of  the  hill  was  found  to  have  been  cut 
away,  where  needful,  into  perpendicular  scarps  from  forty  to  sixty  feet 
high. 

Bounding  the  southern  end  of  Ophel,  and  turning  a  little  way  north, 
you  reach  the  fcmous  Pool  of  Siloam,  on  the  western  side  of  the  valley. 
It  is  fifty -two  feet  long  and  eigliteen  wide,  some  piersj  like  flying  but- 
tresses, standing  on  its  norrh  side,  while  part  of  a  column  rises  in  the 
middle  of  it.  These  are  the  remains  of  an  old  church,  built  over  it 
thirteen  hundred  years  ago,  or  of  a  monastery,  erected  at  a  spot  so 
sacred,  in  the  twelfth  century.  It  was  apparently  to  this  pool  that 
Christ  sent  the  blind  man  to  wash  his  eyes,^  and  the  miracle  which 
followed  naturally  invested  it  with  such  peculiar  sacredness  that  baths 
were  erected  under  the  ancient  church,  to  let  the -sick  have  the  benefits 
of  the  wondrous  stream.  You  go  down  eight  ancient  stone  steps  to 
reach  the  water,  which  is  used  by  the  people  lor  drinking,  for  washihg 
their  not  particularly  clean  linen,  and  for  bathing.  Everything  around 
is  dilapidated:  the  stones  loose,  and  in  many  cases  fallen  ;  the  approach 
rough  as  the  bottom  of  a  quarry.  At  the  north  end  a  small  tunnel 
opens  in  the  rock,  bringing  the  water  from  the  Spring  of  the  Virgin, 
which  lies  1,700  feet  higher  up  the  valley.  This  ancient  engineering 
work  is  about  two  feet  wide,  and  from  two  to  sixteen  feet  in  height, 
with  a  branch  cut  due  west  from  it  to  a  shallow  basin  within  the  line 
of  the  ancient  walls,  where  a  round  shaft  more  than  forty  feet  deep  has 
been  sunk  to  reach  it.  On  the  top  of  this  a  great  chamber  hewn  in 
the  rock,  with  a  flight  of  steps  leading  down  to  it,  made  it  possible  for 
the  citizens,  by  covering  over  and  hiding  the  spring  outside,  to  cut  oft" 
the  supply  of  water  from  an  enemy,  while  themselves,  by  means  of  this 
striking  arrangement,  enjoying  it  in  safety,  without  leaving  their 
defences.  A  notable  discovery  connected  with  the  cutting  of  the  main 
tunnel,  which,  as  we  have  seen,  is  nearly  one-third  of  a  mile  long,  was 
made  in  1880,  by  a  youth,  while  wading  up  its  mouth.  Losing  his 
footing,  he  noticed,  as  he  was  picking  himself  up,  what  looked  like 
letters  cut  in  the  rocky  side,  and  these  on  inspection  proved  to  be  an 
inscription  left  by  the  workmen,  when  they  had  finished  their  great 
undertaking.  It  appears  that  they  began  at  botr"  e.  ds,  but  as  engin- 
eering was  hardly  at  its  best  three  thousand  year:,  ago,  their  course 
was  very  far  from  being  exactly  straight,  windings  of  more  than  200 
yards,  like  the  course  of  a  river,  marking  their  work.*     There  aire,  in 

I  Eecovery  qf  Jenualem.    2  John  ix.  7.    8  The  tunnel  measures  670  yards:  the  straight  course 
would  haYO  been  only  368  yards. 


V 


.. .  •-.■:- ~..ca: 


Upper  Fool  of  SUoam.   (See  page  841.) 


XXIV.I 


HOUND  JERUSALEM. 


343 


fact,  several  short  branches,  s^iovving  where  the  excavators  found  them- 
selves  going  iu  a  wrong  (3  lection,  and  abruptly  stopped,  to  resume 
work  in  a  truer  line.  When  at  last  they  met  they  proved  to  be  a  lit- 
tle on  one  side  of  each  other,  and  had  to  connect  their  excavations  by 
a  short  side  cutting.  The  inscription,  as  translated  by  Professor  Sayoe, 
is  as  follows: — 

"  Behold  the  excavation  1    Now  this  is  the  history  of  the  tunnel. 
While  the  excavators  were  lifting  up  the  pick,  each  towards  the  other, 
and  while  there  were  yet  three  cubits  to  be  broken  through.  ...  the 
voice  of  one  called  to  his  neighbor,  for  there  was  an  excess  (?)  in  tlie 
rock  on  tlie  right.    They  rose  up  .  .  .  they  struck  on  the  west  of  the 
excavation — the  excavators  struck-— each  to  meet  the  other,  pick  to 
pick.    And  then  flowed  the  waters  from  their  outlet  to  the  Pool,  for 
the  distance  of  a  thousand  cubits  and  [three-fourths?]  of  &  cubit  was 
the  height  of  the  rock  over  the  excavation  here."  ^     Professor  Sayce 
thinks  that  this  undertaking,  so  wonderful  for  such  an  age  and  for  so 
small  a  people,  dates  from  about  the  eighth  century  befoi-e  Christ,  and 
Professor  Mublau  refers  it  to  that  of  Hezekiah,*  while  others  think  it 
in  part,  at  least,  a  relic  of  the  earlv  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem  before 
David  *     The  depth  of  the  tunnel  fcelow  the  surface,  at  its  lowest,  is 
156  feet.    The  slope  is  very  small,  so  that  the  water  must  always  have 
flowed  with  a  gentle  leisure  from  the  spring  to  the  pool :  a  character- 
istic which  reminds  us  of  the  words  of  Isaiah  in  his  prophecy  of  the 
result  of  Israel's  allying  itself  with  Syria,  instead  of  trusti  ng  in  God, 
or,  as  he  expresses  it,  in  "  the  waters  of  Shiloah  that  go  softly."  * 
This  unworthy  confederacy  would  bring  on  the  nation  the  overwhelm- 
ing Euphrates-flood  of  an  Assyrian  invasion,  terrible  to  imagine  as  a 
contrast  to  the  placid  flow  of  their  gentle  spring.    The  one  stream  was 
a  symbol  of  the  peacefulness  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  established  in 
Israel ;    the  other,  of  the  stormy  and  violent  kingdoms  of  the  world. 
The  present  pool,  into  which  the  water  still  flows,  was  not  originally, 
however,  the  only  reservoir  supplied  by  it.    The  remains  of  four  other 
basins  have  been  discovered,  which  were  apparently  once  connected 
with  it;    and  a  little  way  from  it,  down  the  valley,  is  an  ancient 
"  Lower  Pool,"  vvhich  lies  to  the  east  of  the  upper  one,  but  now  has 
its  bottom  overgrown  with  trees,  the  overflow  from  the  higher  pool 
having  for  centuries  trickled  past  it  instead  of  fiUiiig  it.     This  lower 
pool,  known  as  the  Red  Pool — from  the  color  of  the  soil — is  famous 
for  an  old  mulberry- tree,  carefully  guarded  by  stones,  marking  the  spot 
on  which,  according  to  tradition,  the  great  Prophet  Isaiah  was  sawn 
asunder  by  Manasaeh. 

The  Virgin's  Well,  from  which  the  whole  supply  comes,  lies  at  the 
bottom  of  two  flights  of  stone  uteps — thiity  in  all — broken  and  partly 

1  Pta.  FumdlUpL,  1881,  p.  284.    2  Biehm,  p.  K78.   2  PaL  JPund  B/epL,  1881,  p. TIL    4  Isa.  VliLO. 


I 


844 


THK   HOLY   LAND   AND  THE   BIBLE. 


[Chap. 


ruined,  and  has  the  glory  of  being  the  only  spring  rising  in  the  Tem- 
ple Mount.  Its  basin  is  about  twelve  feet  long,  and  five  wide,  and 
the  bottom  is  covered  with  small  stones ;  but  it  is  no  longer  worthy  of 
its  fine  name,  for  two  men  were  bathing  in  it  when  I  saw  it  last.  The 
waters  have  the  curious  feature  of  overflowing  into  the  tunnel  only  at 
intervals :  from  three  to  five  times  a  day  in  rainy  winter,  twice  a  day 
in  summer,  and  only  once  a  day  in  autumn,  while  after  a  dry  winter 
the  overflow  takes  place  only  once  in  three  or  four  days.  Explana- 
tion is  easy.  A  deep  natural  basin  in  the  interior  of  the  rocks  is  fed 
by  numerous  streamlets,  but  it  has  only  one  narrow  outlet,  which 
begins  near  the  bottom  of  the  basin,  and  after  rising  above  the  top  of 
it  af>ain  descends,  outwards.  Whenever  the  stream  rises  to  the  bend 
in  the  outlet  it  begins  to  flow  through  it,  and  continues  to  flow,  on  the 
principle  jf  the  syphon,  till  the  water  in  the  hidden  rock-basin  has 
been  lowered  to  below  tlie  point  at  which  the  bend  commences.  It  is 
very  possible  that  this  peculiarity  marks  it  as  the  Dragon's  Pool  of 
NehemJah  ;^  popular  superstition  supposing  that  the  intermittent  gush 
of  waters  was  due  to  a  gigantic  water-monster  in  the  hill,  which  drank 
up  the  stream  and  vomited  it  forth,  in  turn.  The  taste  of  the  water  is 
slightly  salt  and  very  unj^leasant,  from  its  having  filtered  through  the 
vast  mass  of  foul  rubbish  on  which  the  city  stands,  and  which  has 
been  soaked  with  the  sewage  of  many  centuries.  The  sides  of  the  tun- 
nel are  covered,  to  a  height  of  about  three  feet,  with  thin  red  cement, 
very  hard,  and  full  of  pounded  potsherds,  and  exactly  like  that  with 
which,  under  the  name  of  "  homrah,"  cisterns  in  Palestine  are  lined  at 
this  time.  The  bottom  is  covered  with  a  black  slimy  deposit,  two  or 
three  inches  thick,  which  makes  the  water  still  worse  at  Siloam  than 
at  the  Virgin's  Well.  Still,  from  time  to  time  water-carriers  come  to  the 
ore  or  the  other  to  fill  their  water-skins ;  and  women,  with  their  great 
jars  on  their  shoulders,  like  Hagar,^  repair  to  them,  likewise,  for  their 
household  supply.  Yet  Siloam  must  have  been  far  livelier  than  now 
in  the  olden  times,  when  a  fine  church  rose  over  the  spring,  and  pil- 
grims bathed  in  a  great  tank  beneath  it.  Where  this  was,  there  are 
now  gardens.  Already,  in  the  days  of  Christ,  perhaps  from  the 
thought  of  the  healing  powers  of  the  pool  as  issuing  from  Mount 
Moriah,  it  must  have  been  the  custom  to  wash  in  it,  else  the  blind 
man  would  hardly  have  been  directed  in  so  few  words  to  do  so.'  But 
even  if  washing  was  theu  common,  one  can  only  hope  it  was  a  little 
more  thoroughly  carried  out  than  it  is  to-day. 

South  of  Siloam  there  is  an  open  space  at  the  union  of  the  Kedron, 

Tyropoeon,  and  Hinnom  valleys.     Here,  in  ancient  times,  David  and 

Solomon  had  their  royal  gardens,^  and  Jerome  tells  us  that  in  his  time 

it  still  boasted  of  delightful  gardens,  watered  by  the  Fountain  of 

lNeli.U.13.   2  Gen.  zxi.  14.  8Johnlx.7.   4Neh.iii.l&.  Jo8.iliit,vtt.l4,4i  U.10,4. 


I- 


h 


(Chap. 

be  Tern- 
iride,  and 
orthy  of 
St.    The 
1  only  at 
ce  a  day 
y  winter 
Sxplana- 
ks  is  fed 
t,  which 
e  top  of 
;he  bend 
%  on  the 
asin  has 
s.     It  is 
Pool  of 
jnt  gush 
h  drank 
water  is 
ugh  the 
tich  has 
the  tun- 
cement, 
lat  with 
lined  at 
,  two  or 
,m  than 
e  to  the 
ir  great 
3r  their 
an  now 
md  pil- 
lere  are 
>m   the 
Mount 
e  blind 
»     But 
a  little 

[edron, 
id  and 
is  time 
ain  of 


XX 


Si 
ar 
so 
he 
ai 

V( 


k 
li 
t( 
tl 

s] 

CI 


XXIV.l 


ROUND  JERUSALEM. 


845 


f 


Siloali.i  To-day,  the  hollow,  and  even  the  lower  slopes  at  the  sides, 
are  still  coveredwith  gardens,  watered  by  countless  rills  from  the  pool, 
so  that  every  bed  of  flowers  or  plants  is  constantly  moist.  Wlien  the 
heat  of  summer  has  burned  up  the  landscape,  till  rook  and  soil  alike 
are  mere  yellow  stone,  these  gardens  and  terraces,  fed  and  quickened 
by  the  never-ceasing  flow,  are  richlv  green.  Such  cool,  refreshing 
verdure,  springing  up  in  the  hot  montlis  in  the  midst  of  universal  bar- 
'•''nness,  must  have  been  a  delight  age  after  age,  filling  the  soul  of  the 
godly  Israelite  of  old  with  sweet  imagery,  such  as  the  race  has  always 
loved.  It  may  have  been  from  these  very  gardens  that  Jeremiah,  who 
lived  most  of  his  life  in  Jerusalem,  had  the  touching  words  sugges  ,ed 
to  him  :  "Blessed  is  the  man  that  trusteth  in  the  Lord,  and  whose  hope 
the  Lord  is.  For  he  shall  be  as  a  tree  planted  by  the  waters,  and  that 
spreadeth  out  her  roots  by  the  river,  and  shall  not  see  when  heat 
cometh,  but  her  leaf  shall  be  green ;  and  shall  not  be  careful  in  the 
year  of  drought,  neither  shall  cease  from  yielding  fruit."  ^  It  was  the 
opening  spring  when  I  gave  myself  up  to  the  impressions  of  the  spot. 
The  mighty  light  filled  the  heavens  ;  Ophel  and  Moriah  rose  in  long 
slopes  or  liuge  steps  on  the  one  side  of  the  valley,  and  the  village  of 
Siloam,  with  its  flat-roofed  stone  houses  clinging  to  the  bare  hill,  on 
the  other;  old  walls  of  loose  stone  stretched,  apparently  without  any 
plan,  hither  and  thither  over  the  hollow  of  the  valley ;  the  fruit-trees 
of  these  regions  were  putting  forth  their  fresh  leaves ;  the  gardens 
were  beautiful  with  tender  green ;  the  soft  murmur  of  flowing  water 
carried  one  over  land  and  sea  to  his  distant  home ;  and  as  a  setting  to 
this  fair  picture,  there  was  enough  of  barrenness  on  the  hills  around  to 
heighten  its  charms  by  contrast.  After  the  long  cold  mouthi.1,  all  the 
seeds  of  life  were  quickening,  at  once,  in  the  sunshine.  One  could 
realize  the  description  of  spring  in  the  Song  of  Songs :  "  Lo  1  tb.e  winter 
is  past,  the  rain  is  over  and  gone ;  the  flowers  appear  on  the  earth  ; 
the  time  of  the  singing  of  birds  is  come,  and  the  voice  of  tbo  turtle  is 
heard  in  our  land."^ 

A  short  distance  south  of  the  gardens  is  En  Rogel,  "  the  Fountain 
of  the  Scout,"  or,  as  the  Targum  has  it,  "  the  Fullar's  Spring,"  which 
Josephus  tells  us  used  to  be  in  the  king's  gardens/*  Its  present  Arab 
name  is  "  Job's  Well,"  though  the  patriarch  had  never,  of  course,  any 
connection  with  it.  Through  how  many  ages  it  has  been  used  by 
man,  may  be  in  part  realized  from  the  fact  that  it  is  mentioned,  under 
the  name  En  Rogel,  in  Joshua,  as  the  boundary  between  the  tribes  of 
Judah  and  Benjamin.^  Round  this  spot  a  very  tragic  history  gath- 
ers.* It  was  here  that  Adonijah  "slew  sheep  and  oxen  and  fat 
cattle,"  and  invited  to  the  feast  all  his  brothers,  David's  sons,  and  all 


1  Oomm.inJer.  vi},  90. 
<i  1  Khigs  1. 9, 


2  J9r.  «yf)L  7,&    9  Cant.  il.  U,  12.    4  Jos.  AnL,  vii.  14, 4.    6  '^ooh.  xy.  7. 


846 


THE  HOLY  LAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


[Ghap. 


the  officers  of  his  father,  intending  through  their  help  to  seize  the 
kingdom  and  exchide  Solomon.  It  was  only  natural,  that  he  should 
have  expected  to  reign,  for  after  Absalom's  death  he  was  the  eldest 
living  son  of  David,  having  been  born  in  Hebron,  before  his  father's 
accession  to  the  throne  of  Israel.  Like  Absalom,  he  was  at  once  hand- 
some and  ambitious,  and  resembled  him  also  in  being  heartless,  for  he 
did  not  wait  for  his  father's  death  to  get  the  throne,  but  tried  to  sup- 
plant him  while  he  lived.  Surrounded,  like  a  king,  with  a  body- 
guard, and  i'ollowed  by  a  strong  force  of  retainers,  he  fancied  all  would 
pro.')  '^r,  '^ov;  tliat  David  was  sinking  to  'lis  death.  Had  he  not,  more- 
over,, the  support  of  J^ab,  the  head  of  tho  king's  fighting  men,  and  of 
Abiatliar,  thg  higV  priest?  But  the  energy  of  Nathan  the  prophet 
spoiled  the  finely-contrivcfl  plot,  and  the  wassail  shouts — "God  save 
King  Adonijah  1 " — were  rudely  interrupte  I  at  En  Kogel  by  the  huzzas 
r  the  multitude  at  Gihon  hailing  Solomon  as  the  nc  monarch.  That 
this  was  their  meaning  was  hastily  told  by  runncs  from  the  scene.  It 
was  enough.  The  guests  vanished,  every  man  rising,  in  mortal  terror, 
and  going  his  own  way.  Joab  and  Adonijah  escaped,  for  the  time, 
through  the  new  prince's  clemency,  b".t  they  could  not  leave  oft'  plot- 
ting, and,  ere  long,  fell  victims  of  a  new  attempt  to  seize  the  throne.^ 
The  well  is  lined  with  masonry  d'nvn  to  the  rock,  and  is  126  feet 
deep  in  all,  with  a  huge  rock-hewn  reservoir  at  the  bottom,  to  collect 
the  water  running  over  the  lower  hard  limestone,  which  we  have  seen 
so  frequently  elsewhere.  The  pit  appears,  indeed,  to  have  been  deep- 
ened at  some  unknown  time,  for  a  second  chamber  is  found,  thirteen 
feet  above  the  lower  one.  The  well  is  entirely  dependent  on  the  rain- 
fall, but,  deep  though  it  be,  it  overflows  after  four  or  five  days  of 
winter  rain.  During  the  wet  winter  of  1873-4  a  steady  brook  flowed 
from  it,  down  the  Kedron  valley.  When  I  saw  it,  it  had  about  thirty 
feet  of  water,  and  it  scarcely  ever  quite  dries  up.  Towards  autumn, 
when  many  cisterns  in  Jerusalem  have  but  little  water,  and  that  very 
bad,  a  great  quantity  is  obtained  from  En  Koge),  hundreds  of  asses 
being  employed  daily  in  carrying  filled  water-skms  up  to  thf  city, 
which  lies  from  600  to  700  feet  above  it,  on  the  other  side  of  the  nar- 
row valley.  Women  and  maidens,  also,  resort  to  it,  and  have  done  so 
for  immemorial  ages,  for  it  was  by  caking  advantage  ol  this  that  the 
faithful  "  wench  "  came  and  told  the  spies  of  David — Jonal'ian  and 
Ahimaaz,  sons  of  the  high  priest— that  Absalom  had  rejected  the 
counsel  of  Ahithophel.^  The  villagers  of  Silcam,  upon  the  hill  to  th" 
north-east  of  the  well,  drive  a  trade  of  their  own  in  carrying  water  , up 
to  the  city  for  sale  to  the  poorer  people ;  but  they  are  a  sorry  set  of 
cheats,  often  filling  their  skins,  more  or  less,  with  air.  Their  'extreme 
poverty  is  their  only  excuse,  for  they  get  no  more  th?in  from  a  penny 

)  1  Kings  il.  18,  ft.   2  2S^.XTim-2^ 


I 


! 


His  branches  shall  spread,  and  his  beauty 
shall  be  as  the  olive  tree  and  his  srnell  as 
Lebanon.  They  that  dwell  under  his 
shadow  shall  return;  tliey  shall  revive  as 
the  corn  and  grow  as  the  vine :  the  scent 
thereof  shall  be  as  the  wine  of  Lebanon. — 
Hosea  xiv.  6,  7. 

Altiiough  the  fig  tree  shall  not  Mossom, 
neither  shall  fruit  be  in  the  \iiies:  the  labor 
of  the  olive  shall  fail,  and  the  fields  shall 
yield  no  meat ;  the  fl(tck  shall  be  cut  off 
from  tlie  fold,  and  there  shall  be  no  herd  in 
the  stalls :  Yet  I  will  rejoice  in  the  Lord, 
I  will  joy  in  the  God  of  my  salvation. — 
mb.  iii.  17, 18. 

PWVE  GROVE  BELOW  JOB'S  WELL. 


(See  page  840.) 


XXIV.J 


ROUND  JERUSALEM. 


847 


^ 


to  sixpence  for  a  skinful  of  water  delivered  in  the  city.  It  might 
Ijave  been  thought  that,  with  a  valley  between  it  and  the  town,  tho 
water  would  be  sweet ;  but,  though  much  better  than  that  of  Siloam, 
it  still  shows  traces  of  sewage. 

The  view  from  En  Rogel  is  very  striking.  The  hills  rise  high,  to 
both  east  and  west.  On  tne  north,  are  the  outlying  slopes  of  Zion  and 
Moriah,  with  part  of  the  city  walls,  overhead,  and  to  the  south  the  eye 
follows  the  course  of  the  valley  to  its  south-eastern  bend.  There,  the 
hill,  which  sinks  gently  southwards,  off'ers  a  pleasant  view  of  luxuriant 
olive-trees  and  springing  fields,  but  the  one  east  of  the  well  is  as  rough 
and  barren  as  tne  other  is  attractive.  It  bears  the  ominous  name  of 
the  Hill  of  Offence,  from  the  belief  that  it  was  here  that  Solomon 
built  temples  to  Chemosh,  the  abomination  of  the  Moabites,  and  to 
the  other  heathen  gods  of  the  neighboring  peoples.^  The  Hill  of  Evil 
Counsel,  opposite,  is  far  less  uninviting,  for  its  slopes  show  patches  of 
grain  between  the  outcroppings  of  rock,  though  the  solitary,  weird- 
looking  tree  on  its  bare  top  is  hardly  a  pleasant  landmark. 

A  mass  of  ruinous  walls,  apparently  very  ancient,  rise  beside  the 
mouth  of  En  Rogel,  but  their  history  is  unknown.  Wall-plants  hang 
from  between  the  rows  of  large  square  stones  in  long  waving  festoons, 
and  the  low  roof,  once  resting  on  stone  arches,  has  partly  fallen  in, 
while  grass  and  weeds  cover  what  remains.  Deep  though  it  be,  there  is 
no  way  of  drawing  the  water  except  by  hand,  as  in  the  case  of  the  well 
of  Samaria,  in  the  days  of  Christ.^  Heaps  of  stones  once  forming  the 
walls  of  an  enclosure  lie  around,  but,  as  we  already  know,  the  idea  of 
repairing  any  building  never  enters  into  the  head  of  an  Oriental. 

The  Kedron  valley  runs  northwards,  past  the  Mount  of  Offence, 
which  is  east  from  it,  though  indeed  the  valley,  strictly  speaking, 
begins  only  from  the  south-east  corner  of  Moriah,  stretching  for  nearly 
a  mile  and  a  half,  first  north,  with  Mount  Moriah  on  its  western  and 
the  Mount  of  Olives  on  its  eastern  side;  then  west.  It  is  best  known 
has  the  valley  of  Jehoshaphat,  though  indeed,  as  it  sweeps  past  the 
Temple  Hill,  it  is  a  ravine  rather  than  a  valley.    Opposite  Ophel, 

{)ercned  on  a  very  steep  and  slippery  scarp  cut  in  the  face  of  the  hill, 
ies  the  village  of  Silwan,  or  Siloam.  There  could  hardly  be  a  better 
defence  than  its  difficult  approach,  which  must  at  all  times  have  made 
it  a  striking  feature  in  the  valley.  Names  cling  age  after  age  to  the 
same  spots,  in  the  East,  and  to  this  steep  face  of  rock  the  villagers 
may  be  heard  still  giving  the  name  Zehweileh,  "the  Slippery  Place," 
which  seems  to  be-  only  a  slight  change  from  Zoheleth,  the  name  for 
the  great  "stone,"  or  "rock,"  near  En  Rogel,  close  to  which  Adonijah 
held  his  ill-fated  banquet.^  I  could  not  pretend  to  descend  it,  and  was 
glad  to  take  an  easier  road  down  to  the  valley,  after  having  looked  into 

\  I  Kings  zi.  7.   2  John  iv.  11.    8  1  Kin^s  {.  9, 


848 


THE   IIULY  LAND  AND  THE  BIBLE. 


[CUAP. 


the  village,  which  is  a  curious  place,  part  of  the  inhabitants  living  in 
large  caves  and  tombs  of  groat  antiquity.  Tliere  are  sonje  houses,  Ijut 
they  are  of  the  rudest :  generally  mere  hovels,  built  at  the  mouths  of 
tombs  tliat  form  part  of  tlie  ancient  cemetery  of  the  Jews  of  which  so 
many  remains  are  seen  in  the  Valley  of  Ilinnom,  or,  possibly,  of  a  still 
n^ore  ancient  burial-place.  Here,  truly,  one  is  face  to  face  with  anti- 
quity. On  one  spot  M.  Ganneau  discovered  an  illegible  inscription 
tliought  to  contain  the  words  "Beth  Baul."  The  cliff,  once  evidently  a 
quarry,  rises  high  behind  the  houses  and  cave  dwellings,  so  that  the 
village  is  as  inaccessible  from  above  as  from  below.  Everything  is 
filthy  in  the  extreme,  even  lor  tlio  East,  and  the  villagers,  as  becomes 
such  a  place,  have  a  bad  name  for  dishonesty.  Very  strangely,  about 
a  hundred  of  them  are  called  Men  of  Dibon,  and  form  a  distinct  body, 
apparently  the  descendants  of  a  colony  of  Moabites  sent  from  Dibon, 
in  Moul),  perhaps  in  connection  with  the  altar  of  Chemosh,  built  by 
Solomon  on  tlie  hill  on  which  Siloam  stands.  The  village  may  thus 
mark  the  s[)()t  where  high  places  were  built  on  "the  Mount  of  Cor- 
ruptiuu"  for  "Ashtoreth,  the  abomination  of  the  Zidonians,  and 
for  Chemosh,  the  abomination  of  the  Moabites,  and  for  Milcom 
[Moloch],  the  abomination  of  the  children  of  Ammon."^  But  from 
whatever  stock  they  are  derived,  the  villagers  are  as  industrious  as 
they  are  churlish  or  given  to  larceny.  I  noticed  two  or  three  poor 
little  oxen  which  had  been  let  out  to  pick  what  they  could  get  from 
between  the  stones  on  the  steep  hill-side :  a  rare  sight  in  Palestine. 
A  goatherd  was  playing  on  his  monotonous  reed  pipe  before  his  black 
flock,  as  they  followed  him  along  the  side  of  Mount  Moriah.  A  bare- 
legged, turbaned  figure,  in  a  loose  white  shirt,  was  guiding  a  primitive 
plough  :  one  hand  on  its  handle ;  the  other  holding  a  long  goad,  like  a 
clumsy  fishing-rod,  with  which  to  quicken  the  speed  of  his  slow  oxen. 
Near  En  Rogel  some  sheep  were  grazing.  The  Siloam  poultry 
scratched  the  dust  before  the  hovels  of  their  owners,  and  crowed 
lustily  against  others  at  a  distance.  Some  women  in  blue  cotton 
passed  with  baskets  of  vegetables  on  their  heads,  and  a  knot  of  idlers 
gossiped  under  the  shade  of  a  fig-tree.  A  picture,  one  could  not  help 
thinking,  of  how  it  must  have  been  in  ancient  Israel. 

Making  m}'^  way  down  the  steep  path,  I  crossed  over  to  the  Virgin's 
Fountain,  to  remind  myself  of  the  fantastic  legend  from  which  the 
place  takes  its  name — that  here  the  Virgin  washed  the  swaddling- 
clothes  of  our  Lord — and  to  listen  once  more  to  the  murmur  of  the 
water,  and  then  went  down  the  two  flights  of  steps  to  the  opening  of 
the  tunnel  which  conducts  it  to  Siloam,  the  favorite  bathing-place  of 
the  men  and  boys  of  the  neighborhood. 
12Klngsxxlii.l8. 


-  ■,_,^„ttiimliimi 


' 


BuliiB  of  SUoam  seeo  from  Jaoob^s  Tomb.   (See  page  8I7>) 


